Baseball Hits Way to Seventh Straight Win

Saturday, March 17

Norfolk, Va.

3:00 PM

Florida Atlantic

Old Dominion

3/17/2018 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

March 17, 2018

Box Score

NORFOLK, Va. - The Florida Atlantic University baseball team scored nine runs in their last two at-bats, rapping four of their eight total extra-base hits in that span towards a 12-7 comeback win over Old Dominion Saturday. The win is the team's seventh straight, and a sixth in a row with 10 or more runs.

Quotable

"We stuck it out," said Head Coach John McCormack. "I think there's games each year where it's not about if you're better than the other team, or playing better or not as well, it's about sticking it out and winning the game somehow, some way. That's what I think we did tonight. We certainly swung the bats well, even if the pitching wasn't as good tonight. It's good to be 2-0 in conference with a chance to sweep on the road, which is never, ever easy."

The Turning Point

Trailing 4-2, David Miranda led off the sixth inning for FAU (15-4, 2-0 Conference USA) with a towering home run to right. Then, in the eighth, the Owls scored three to take a lead, but it would be short-lived, with ODU (7-11, 0-2 C-USA) getting three of their own in the bottom half to take a 7-6 lead.

The Finish

Momentum quickly swung back in FAU's favor, with five straight batters reaching to start the ninth. Miranda and Pedro Pages both singled, with a double by Cody Wilson knotting it up at 7-7. Pages scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch, but the inning was far from over. After a walk to Gunnar Lambert, Eric Rivera doubled to right-center for his fourth RBI of the day, and two batters later, a two-run double by Richie Nizza brought two more in. Joe Montes would then make it a five-run lead with a safety squeeze. In ODU's last turn, Zach Schneider allowed a one-out single, but a Tyler Frank-to-Lambert groundout double play ended the proceedings.

The Bats

Rivera has seven RBI in the series and 13 in his last five games. He's hit safely in each of the last six, raising his season average 109 points to .288
Pages had a 3-for-5 showing and is now batting a team-high .351
A night after 10 hits, all singles, the Owls had six doubles, a triple and a home run Saturday
Besides Rivera, Miranda and Wilson had two hits as well. Miranda and Pages each scored three runs, and Wilson and Lambert two apiece
Frank led off the game with a double to extend his hit streak to 13, and drew three straight walks in each of the last three innings
The last time the Owls scored 10 or more runs in six straight games was March 17-23, 2008 (matching stretches also reached in 1990 and 2000). The program record is seven consecutive from March 8-15, 1998

The Arms

Kyle Marman struck out seven in 6 1/3 innings of work, reaching that plateau now in all five of his starts
Schneider picked up the win, his first as an Owl, coming on in the eighth and finishing out the ninth

What's Next

The series finale in Norfolk begins at 11 a.m. Sunday. Morgan Maguire will start for ODU against the Owls' Vince Coletti.