Baseball Falls Prey to JU Comeback in Friday Loss

Friday, June 1

Gainesville, Fla.

6:30 PM

Florida Atlantic

40-18-1

Jacksonville

40-19

Florida Atlantic

Jacksonville

6/1/2018 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

June 1, 2018

Box Score

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Florida Atlantic University baseball went up 3-0 early, but Jacksonville scored five unanswered and held the Owl offense at bay over the final five innings in Friday night's 7-5 decision. FAU falls into the consolation bracket and will next play Columbia on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m.

Quotable

"I want to congratulate Jacksonville," said Head Coach John McCormack. "We haven't played them in years—watched them on tape—I thought they played fantastic tonight. (Starting pitcher Chris) Gau pitched great, and (reliever Trent) Palmer was fantastic. They made the plays, they got the big hits, we couldn't put them away with two strikes. Congratulations to them. We need to be better. But I thought it was a good ballgame and they outplayed us."

The Turning Point

FAU (40-18-1) scored twice in the first and added another on Cody Wilson's leadoff blast in the fourth inning. But two Jacksonville (40-19) homers in the bottom half of that inning tied it, a two-out single in the fifth gave the Dolphins the lead, and they added another run in the home sixth.

The Finish

The best shot for an Owls' comeback came in the seventh, when the first two runners reached, on a Joe Montes single and a walk to Pedro Pages. An unsuccessful sacrifice put runners on the corners, and JU turned to their bullpen. Three pitches later, reliever Tyler Palmer induced a double play, and he retired the final six Owls in order after that to garner the save.

The Bats

Wilson knocked in two, the other coming on a groundout in the first, immediately following a run-scoring fielder's choice by Eric Rivera
Those RBI scored Tyler Frank and Gunnar Lambert, staking FAU to an early 2-0 lead
In respective returns to action, David Miranda and Pages each singled in their first at-bats. Miranda missed the last five games, all at the Conference USA Championship, while Pages has been out since April 28, a span of 19 games

The Arms

Blake Sanderson (1-2) took the loss, pitching five innings and giving up four runs
Closing it out was Drew Peden, throwing 2 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing just a hit and an intentional walk while striking out three

What's Next

FAU will play Columbia in an elimination game on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. at McKethan Stadium. The winner will advance to the consolation final on Sunday, also at 1, while the team that does not prevail goes home.