Baseball Clinches Series at Charlotte with 7-4 Saturday Win

Saturday, April 8

Charlotte, N.C.

2:00 PM

Florida Atlantic

21-8-1, 9-2

Charlotte

16-15, 5-6

Florida Atlantic

Charlotte

4/8/2017 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

April 8, 2017

Box Score

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - After seeing a three-run lead slip away in the sixth, the Florida Atlantic University baseball team scored a run in each of their last three at-bats and reliever Mark Nowatnick made the lead hold up, as the Owls took a second win in as many days against Charlotte, 7-4 on Saturday afternoon at Hayes Stadium.

The Turning Point

The Owls (21-8-1, 9-2 Conference USA) were up 4-1, but Charlotte (16-15, 5-6 C-USA) battled back against three different FAU pitchers in the sixth to tie it up. Still with the bases loaded and two outs, Nowatnick came into the game and immediately set down Jackson Mims looking to keep the game even at 4-4.

The Finish

In the following FAU turn at-bat, a fielder's choice off the bat of Jared Shouppe pushed the Owls ahead. They added another on a two-out double by Eric Rivera in the eighth, and Tyler Frank led off the ninth with a home run for his fourth hit of the game and a three-run lead. Nowatnick completed his 3 1/3 innings of relief with a perfect bottom of the ninth, on two groundouts sandwiched around his fourth strikeout of the afternoon.

Notables

Nowatnick gave up just one hit, retiring 10 of the 11 batters he faced, and moved to 3-0 on the season
Frank grounded out on the first pitch of the game but was perfect after, with three singles preceding his home run
In the 9-hole, Rivera was 3-for-4 with two runs scored
Jordan Poore got his first career extra base hit, a double in the fourth, and took home on the front end of a double steal with Pedro Pages
Austin Langham notched his second home run of the series, a two-run shot (just the same as his game-tying blast was on Friday). It came in the second to give the Owls their initial lead. He was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and those two RBI

Quotable

"Big win to clinch the series, Mark Nowatnick pitched really well in relief," said Head Coach John McCormack. "But you also can't say enough about the offense, the guys pounded out 12 hits and hit two home runs, they did a really good job. It was really important for us to get off to a good start, we gave up the run in the first and then come back and hit the home run to take the lead. We let them tie in the sixth, but came back right away … one run, then another run, then another run and kind of just diminished their hopes. We played clean defense and made some really nice plays, I thought it was just a really good, clean, nice game."

What's Next

The Owls will go for the C-USA road sweep on Sunday afternoon, a 12:30 p.m. start. Pregame coverage will begin at 12:20 p.m. for the starting pitching matchup of Jake Miednik for FAU vs. Charlotte's Zach Flanagan.