Baseball Edged Out Late by WKU

Sunday, May 14

Bowling Green, Ky.

1:00 PM

Florida Atlantic

30-18-1, 16-11

WKU

16-36, 6-21

Florida Atlantic

WKU

5/14/2017 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

May 14, 2017

Box Score

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - The Florida Atlantic University baseball team fell in the series finale Sunday to WKU on a run in the bottom of the eighth inning, 7-6 at Nick Denes Field.

The Turning Point

The Owls (30-18-1, 16-11 Conference USA) scored twice in the first and twice more in the third, but were kept from scoring what could have been a lot more. In each of the first four innings, the first two FAU hitters reached, and the bases were loaded in each frame, three times with less than two outs. But WKU (16-36, 6-21 C-USA) pitching held firm to allow just those four runs and at that point strand 12 Owls' baserunners.

The Finish

Meanwhile, WKU chipped away with one in the fourth, tied it with three in the fifth, and moved ahead with two more in the sixth. Though the Owls knotted it up at 6-6 in the top of the eighth (Austin Langham and Stephen Kerr had back-to-back doubles, and Kerr scored on a wild pitch), the Hilltoppers got the winning run in the bottom half. Colie Currie singled, stole second, moved up to third on an errant throw on the steal attempt, and scored when the throw back in from the outfield was off-target. The Owls were set down in order in the ninth and WKU took the Senior Day and series win.

Notables

Every Owl had at least one hit, for a total of 15, but 17 runners were stranded on the day
Langham had a 3-for-5 afternoon, and four other FAU batters had two base hits: Tyler Frank, Jared Shouppe, Kerr and Pedro Pages
Langham and Kerr both scored two runs
Drew Peden (4-1) took the tough-luck loss, as the run against him in the eighth was unearned. He struck out five of the seven batters he retired

Quotable

"Very disappointing loss, we had so many opportunities early and didn't capitalize," said Head Coach John McCormack. "We let them hang around and it came back to haunt us."

What's Next

Four more games remain in the regular season for FAU, with the first coming next Tuesday, May 16, in West Palm Beach, Florida against UCF. The Owls' second "home" game at The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches starts that night at 6:30 p.m.