Baseball Clinches Opening Series as Pitching Continues to Shine

Saturday, February 17

Boca Raton, Fla.

4:00 PM

Florida Atlantic

2-0

George Washington

0-2

George Washington

Florida Atlantic

Baseball Clinches Opening Series as Pitching Continues to Shine

2/17/2018 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

Feb. 17, 2018

Box Score

BOCA RATON, Fla. - The Florida Atlantic University baseball team came within two outs of a second consecutive shutout, behind another strong six-inning start by Kyle Marman, in defeating George Washington Saturday at FAU Baseball Stadium, 6-1. The Owls (2-0) have taken the series, with the chance to sweep the Colonials (0-2) Sunday.

Quotable

"(Kyle) Marman was really good, set the tone," said Head Coach John McCormack. "Again, we let them off the hook early, then we were able to have the four-run sixth. (Mark) Nowatnick was really good in relief, and (Mike) Ruff was really solid. That last inning got away from us a little bit."

The Turning Point

Just as Friday night with Jake Miednik, a couple of runs was all Marman needed. In the second, against a drawn-in infield, Eric Rivera singled up the middle to score Cody Wilson, and in the fifth, David Miranda had a hard-hit single to push Joe Montes across. Holding on to that 2-0 lead, Marman allowed two infield hits by with two outs in the top of the sixth, but struck out Dominic D'Alessandro looking to extinguish that threat.

The Finish

At that point, Marman had thrown 79 pitches, giving up just four hits, all of which were hit towards third base, and none of which even reached the bag. He would not return for the seventh because the Owls sent 10 to the plate in scoring four runs and forcing three GW pitching changes. The Colonials were able to snap their 17 1/3-inning scoreless stretch with another infield single in the ninth, the only blemish to this point against FAU pitching.

The Bats

Rivera was 2-2 and drew two walks as well, reaching base in all four plate appearances. In addition to his RBI in the second, he scored in the sixth
Leadoff batter Joe Montes also was on base four times, with a single, double and a walk, and once reaching on an error
Miranda had two singles and a walk, plus the fifth-inning RBI
The sixth began with a single by Pedro Pages, a double by Gunnar Lambert, and an intentional walk to Rivera
In his first plate appearance as an Owl, pinch-hitter Richie Nizza was then walked with the bases loaded to earn an RBI
That preceded the big hit of the inning, a single through the left side off the bat of Diamond Johnson, scoring two

The Arms

Marman did not walk a batter over his six innings of work, throwing 79 pitches (57 for strikes). He struck out seven just as Miednik did on Friday
Nowatnick's perfect seventh inning of work came on just six pitches
Ruff gave up a two-out hit in the eighth, the first ball out of the infield on Saturday by GW hitting, but induced a groundout to end his scoreless frame

What's Next

The series finale between FAU and GW takes place at noon on Sunday. The respective starters will be Owls' junior Vince Coletti and a fellow junior for the Colonials, Nathan Woods.