Baseball Takes Road Set with 9-4 Sunday Victory

Sunday, May 13

Murfreesboro, Tenn.

2:00 PM

Florida Atlantic

Middle Tennessee

5/13/2018 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

May 13, 2018

Box Score

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - After falling in the opener, Florida Atlantic University baseball rallied to take the last two conference road matchups with Middle Tennessee, culminating in Sunday's 9-4 win over the Blue Raiders.

Quotable

"The guys played hard today to win the series," said Head Coach John McCormack. "Nick Swan's performance in the first inning was fantastic. He set the tone and gave the offense a chance. I am proud of our guys."

The Turning Point

Three batters into the game, the Owls (34-15-1, 17-8-1 Conference USA) went up, courtesy of a Tyler Frank single and David Miranda's home run, his third in two days. Unfortunately, it only took MT (25-25-1, 10-6-1) two batters to equal it, on a two-run homer of their own. Then, the Blue Raiders loaded the bases with just one out, necessitating an FAU pitching change. Nick Swan was up to the task, striking out one batter looking, and getting a one-pitch flyout to stop the threat.

The Finish

After a scoreless second on both sides, FAU pulled away with four unearned runs in the third and three more in the fourth. With two outs in the visiting third, an error extended the inning and loaded the bases, a strikeout/wild pitch scored one, a wild pitch another, and Joe Montes two more with a single. The next inning, it was back-to-back Owl home runs, a two-run towering shot by Andru Summerall, followed by a solo, opposite-field line drive from Cody Wilson. Though MT scored once in the fifth and seventh, Jordan Poore put the bow on it with 2 1/3 perfect and scoreless innings to wrap the series.

The Bats

For the second straight game, all nine Owls reached base
Gunnar Lambert was on four times, while Eric Rivera and Richie Nizza both reached thrice
Frank and Nizza each had two hits, Frank and Summerall both scored two runs
Combining the final five innings of Saturday and first four innings Sunday, the Owls scored two-plus runs in eight of nine frames and outscored MT 23-9 in that span

The Arms

Swan (2-0) got the win, pitching 3 2/3 scoreless innings with three strikeouts. In his two games against the Blue Raiders, the junior lefthander allowed just three hits and one run in 7 1/3 (for an opposing batting average of .120 and ERA of 1.23), with one walk and eight K's
Poore had his second straight scoreless outing of the weekend, four innings combined with just one hit (a .077 OBA)

What's Next

All that remains is three home games on the regular season ledger, FAU vs. WKU, starting Thursday. Game one that night, May 17, starts at 6:30 p.m. at FAU Baseball Stadium. For your last chance for home tickets, call 1-866-FAU-OWLS or visit www.fausports.com/tickets/baseball-tickets.html.