Baseball Staves Off Elimination to Battle Rice Again Later Today

Saturday, May 26

Biloxi, Miss.

1:30 PM

Florida Atlantic

39-16-1

Rice

26-30-2

Florida Atlantic

Rice

Baseball Staves Off Elimination to Battle Rice Again Later Today

5/26/2018 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

May 26, 2018

Box Score

BILOXI, Miss. - A loss away from going home, Florida Atlantic University turned it around against Rice with a 7-4 victory, forcing another matchup with the other Owls later Saturday. The winner will move onto the Conference USA Championship title game to be played Sunday afternoon.

Quotable

"I couldn't be prouder of the guys, they continue to play very good baseball," said Head Coach John McCormack. "(Blake) Sanderson and (Matt) Harris were really good on the mound. We are looking forward to tonight's game."

The Turning Point

A four-run FAU (39-16-1) second turned a 1-0 deficit into a 4-1 lead. After a Rice (26-30-2) wild pitch tied the game, Jared DeSantolo and Joe Montes provided back-to-back run-scoring singles, the latter plating two, for the lead. Though Rice momentarily tied it up on a three-run double in the sixth, FAU regained the advantage for good with two in their very next at-bat, in the seventh. Three consecutive singles, by Jordan Poore, Tyler Frank and Gunnar Lambert loaded the bases. The go-ahead run came in on a double play, and insurance came courtesy of Eric Rivera's two-out single for a 6-4 lead.

The Finish

From there, reliever Matt Harris made sure the lead stood up. A leadoff single against him would be the first of just two hits allowed in the graduate student's three-inning save. Immediately after that, he retired seven in a row, and bore down with two on and one out in the ninth with a foul out and game-ending strikeout of Trei Cruz (the fourth time he was struck out on the day). Earlier in the top half, Rivera provided more of a gap with yet another two-out hit to score Frank.

The Bats

Rivera and Poore each had two hits, while Montes was 3-for-4 Saturday
Lambert continues to flourish in the later part of this season, with a 13-game hitting streak now, and 24 games straight reaching base
He and Frank each scored twice in the top two slots in the lineup, as did Poore in the nine hole
FAU scored seven runs on 10 hits, despite zero of those going for extra bases

The Arms

Blake Sanderson's start was much better than his final line indicated. He pitched into the sixth, and was the victim of an error that should've ended that inning, having allowed just four hits and a run up to that point
The redshirt junior struck out seven with only one of the four runs against him earned
Picking up the win was Weston Clemente to go to 2-0 on the year
Harris' first save as an Owl was three innings, two hits, no runs, no walks and three strikeouts

What's Next

Rice and FAU will meet up for the third time in two days and sixth time this season later on Saturday. The win-or-go-home matchup will come following Southern Miss versus Charlotte, which began just after 5 p.m. Central time. Log on to the @FAU_Baseball twitter account throughout the rest of Saturday to see just exactly when this FAU/Rice matchup will begin.