Baseball Upended by Ninth Inning Illinois Comeback

Friday, February 22

Boca Raton, Fla.

6:30 PM

Florida Atlantic

3-2

Illinois

4-0

Illinois

Florida Atlantic

Photo by: JC Ridley/Owlpix.com

2/22/2019 10:57:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

BOCA RATON, Fla. – Leading 6-3, the Florida Atlantic University baseball team suffered an improbable loss as Illinois scored four times in their last at-bat to take Friday's opening game of the series, 7-6.

Quotable
"That's why closing is the toughest job in baseball, the last three outs are the most important three outs," said Head Coach John McCormack. "I feel terrible for these guys that we ended up losing that game. They played great tonight, I was so proud of them. Great at-bats, good pitching, really good defense, some really really good things went on. We just couldn't close the door."

Full Opening Statement from Coach Mac

The Turning Point
Illinois (4-0) got on the board first, but four straight FAU (3-2) runs, and five of the next six, pushed the home advantage to 6-3. The Illini hadn't scored since the fourth, but put two on with one out in the ninth.

The Finish
On a 3-1 pitch, Jeff Korte turned on a pitch and pushed it over the rightfield fence for the tie. Still, a strikeout had it down to two outs with no one on, but back-to-back singles and an intentional walk loaded the bases, and another walk forced in the go-ahead run. Owl bats in the bottom half went down 1-2-3 to end any chance of a comeback.

The Arms

Blake Sanderson pitched six innings for the second straight Friday, turning in a quality start (three runs on six hits), with one walk and six strikeouts, one off his career high
He gave way to Vince Coletti, who was perfect in two frames with four K's and needing just 27 pitches
Zach Schneider (1-1) took the loss

The Bats

Pedro Pages had his first multi-hit game of the young season, going 3-for-4 with a run scored
Gunnar Lambert notched his second home run of the season, a two-run shot in the sixth
He has reached base in all five games this year, combined with the final 30 of 2018
Also with multiple hits, two apiece, were Eric Rivera and Andru Summerall; each also had an RBI, and Rivera scored on Lambert's homer
Francisco Urbaez had his first FAU extra base hit, a double, and was knocked in by Wilfredo Alvarez for the team's first run

Miscellaneous

Four of the team's six runs came with two outs
Eight of the nine FAU batters had a hit towards their 12, a season high
That's the third time reaching double digits in hits this year, and the team has recorded at least eight in every game

What's Next
Game two versus the Illini will feature the pitching matchup of Ryan Sandberg against Andy Fisher, and commence at 4 p.m. Saturday. Buy tickets by calling 1-866-FAU-OWLS or by visiting baseball's ticket website.