Baseball Topped by UTSA in Series Finale

Sunday, April 15

Boca Raton, Fla.

11:00 AM

Florida Atlantic

26-9, 0

UTSA

18-16, 0

UTSA

Florida Atlantic

4/15/2018 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

April 15, 2018

Box Score

BOCA RATON, Fla. - Florida Atlantic University baseball's nine-game winning streak came to an end at the hands of UTSA Sunday, falling to the Roadrunners 8-1 at FAU Baseball Stadium. Even with the loss, the Owls will still lead Conference USA no matter the results of any other Sunday matchup.

Quotable

"This has been a little bit of an issue, on Sundays," said Head Coach John McCormack. "(UTSA is) a pretty good team, especially offensively, we just couldn't overcome it. We've got to be better, and we've got to be better early. Today, I thought their guy pitched really well."

The Turning Point

The Roadrunners (18-16, 7-7 Conference USA) scored once in the first and twice more in the second, and held FAU (26-9, 11-4 C-USA) without a hit until Eric Rivera's clean single up the middle in the bottom of the fourth. A fifth-inning run and three more in the seventh provided a seven-run cushion for the visitors.

The Finish

The Owls broke through with a run in the seventh to end the shutout attempt of UTSA starter Chance Kirby. Cody Wilson reached on a fielding error to lead off the inning, and with two outs, Tyler Frank's double to the leftfield corner brought Wilson all the way around. Too, FAU had leadoff singles in each of their last two at-bats, but that one run was all they'd push across. The Owls' 11-4 mark at the halfway point of the C-USA schedule will still have them ahead of Southern Miss (10-4) and Louisiana Tech (9-5, plus Sunday's game versus Charlotte).

The Bats

Besides the run scored, Wilson also had an infield single for what is now a nine-game hitting streak
Frank was on base three times, on the double and two hit-by-pitch. The RBI was his 16th of the season, and he has reached base in each of the last 30 straight games
Rivera and David Miranda each went 1-for-4

The Arms

Starter Mike Ruff took the loss, dropping his record to 1-1
Mark Nowatnick had a successful outing, allowing just one run in three innings
Matt Harris (2/3 of an inning) and Jordan Poore (a full inning) each had scoreless relief stints

What's Next

The Owls stay at home to host Bethune-Cookman Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. To buy tickets, call 1-866-FAU-OWLS or visit www.fausports.com/tickets/baseball-tickets.html.