Baseball Rolls in Exhibition No. 1, 10-0

BOCA RATON, Fla. – Florida Atlantic University baseball's batters had 13 hits, nine of which went for extra bases, while nine pitchers combined on a three-hitter, as the Owls topped the Ontario Blue Jays in the first of their three fall exhibitions, 10-0 on Tuesday night at FAU Baseball Stadium.

Quotable
"Anytime that you get the uniform on it's really good, and it's good to get to see the guys out here against somebody else," said Head Coach John McCormack. "Intrasquads get a little bit old and this was an opportunity to break things up. There were some good things that I saw tonight, and there's some things that we need to work on. This game came a little bit earlier this year, but I thought that things were good. Overall, 10 runs and we only gave up three hits … I really like their team (Ontario), and they've had some really good results around the country, so it was good to be able to see us play and get a 'W'."

The Turning Point
The Owls got one run in in their first at-bat, and three more in the second. Through three, FAU pitching got though the Ontario order unscathed, and had only allowed one hit after four.

The Finish
FAU added a run in the fifth, two in the sixth and three more in the seventh as the pitching kept throwing up zeroes. On the night, the Owls had the leadoff batter reach in every inning but the first and the eighth, and the pitchers gave up only the three hits and one walk while striking out seven. They faced just four over the minimum.

The Arms / The Gloves

Freshman Hunter Cooley drew the start and threw a 1-2-3 top of the first, going flyout-called strikeout-swinging strikeout
Another lefty, Dylan O'Connell, was next, and he was more of the same (flyout-swinging strikeout-leaping line drive caught at 1B by Andru Summerall)
Ryan Sandberg came on for the third. He received help from his shortstop, Jacob Josey, making the first out on an over-the-shoulder basket catch, then went groundout-popout to make it nine up, nine down
The perfect game (and no-hitter) came to an end against Jon Jon Kostantis, on a leadoff bunt single in the fourth. He made a nice snag of a lined comebacker by the very next batter though, and would strand the Ontario runner at second with a strikeout looking
The fifth FAU pitcher of the night was Dylan Carter, who induced a groundout (on a nice charging play by Francisco Urbaez) before the next two reached (a hit batter and a walk). A flyout and groundout would again put a zero on the board for the visitors
Next on the hill was Vladimir Zavala. Again Ontario got two on with one out, on a hit and a hit batter, but the Owls got a routine 6-4-3 double play to end the threat
Michael Schuler pitched the seventh, and again was the beneficiary of a double play after a leadoff single, before ending the inning with a strikeout
The eighth belonged to Eric Keating and he recorded FAU's first perfect inning since the third, including two strikeouts
Mitchell Hartigan came on for the ninth and quickly recorded another 1-2-3 inning to keep the shutout intact

The Bats

Urbaez lined a two-out double that one-hopped the leftfield fence in the Owls' first, and Summerall followed it up with an opposite field double of his own for the game's first run
Jared DeSantolo led off the second with a line drive single to right, and Hartigan walked to put two on with no out
Both would come in courtesy of the very next batter, as Bobby Morgensen's triple into the rightfield corner made it 3-0 FAU. An RBI groundout by Josey scored the fourth Owl run
Still in the second, Gunnar Lambert got the team's fourth extra base hit, a double also in the corner in right, but he was stranded
The home third saw the Owls get Summerall on with a leadoff walk, but he was erased on a double play, and the Blue Jays put up a zero for the first time on the night
Hartigan reached for the second time on an infield single to start the Owls' fourth, but Ontario would again turn a double play to end the inning
For the fourth time in five innings, the leadoff batter reached as Eric Rivera walked to start the fifth. He stole second, moved to third on a groundout, and scored on a wild pitch
Run number six came in the sixth, on back-to-back doubles to start the frame by Joe Montes and DeSantolo
Then, it became 7-0 when Diamond Johnson singled to push DeSantolo to third, and Morgensen got another run-producing hit, a single to right
Summerall provided the game's only home run, a line shot to right, to start the Owls' seventh, and push the lead to 8-0
Two batters later, Jacob Pino laced a double to right, and after a walk to Johnson, Nicholas Toney brought them both in with yet another double to push the lead to double digits
The only time Owls' hitting went down in order on the night was in the eighth
FAU would go ahead and bat in the ninth despite the lead, with B.J. Murray walking to start things but left right there

What's Next
The next fall game for the squad will be on the road, taking on Miami in Coral Gables on Saturday, Oct. 27 at 1 p.m. One more home exhibition is scheduled, the next Saturday, Nov. 3, hosting Palm Beach State College. That will be a 1 p.m. first pitch as well.

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Players Mentioned

Jared DeSantolo

Diamond Johnson

Eric Keating

Gunnar Lambert

Joe Montes

Dylan O'Connell

Jacob Pino

Eric Rivera

Andru Summerall

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Florida Atlantic University Athletics