Florida Atlantic University Athletics
Florida Atlantic
3-4
Illinois
6-0
Baseball Topped in Extras After Twice Tying It
2/24/2019 5:21:00 PM | Baseball
Â
Quotable
"Proud of our guys, they kept fighting," said Head Coach John McCormack. "It was a terrible start to the day with the five-spot in the top of the first, and as I told them, I've seen those days turn in to 8-, 10-, 12-nothing games. The guys kept fighting, but we've got to get better. We gave them way too many runs today … but congratulations to Illinois, they did what they were supposed to do."
The Turning Point
Illinois (6-0) did score five runs in their first turn, all with two outs, but the Owls (3-4) battled back with two in the first (on an Andru Summerall groundout and Bobby Morgensen single) and three more in the second (an Eric Rivera single, a wild pitch, and a Summerall single) to knot things up at 5-5. The Illini plated the next four, on three in the third and one more in the fourth, and still held a 10-8 advantage going into the home eighth.
Â
The Finish
With two outs in the FAU eighth and the bases loaded, a gap single by Wilfredo Alvarez to left-center pushed both Joe Montes and Francisco Urbaez across for the second tie of the game, at 10-10. Each team went scoreless in the ninth, and the game-winner came in the 10th, on a one-out double, a passed ball, and a chopper for a single against FAU's drawn-in infield. The Owls went down in order in the bottom of the 10th to give Illinois the finale win.
Â
The Arms
- After the Illini had scored eight runs, Dylan Carter was pressed into duty in the third, with two on and two out. He induced a groundout, and would have a great bandaid performance of 2 1/3 innings, only giving up one run, on a sac fly, and striking out three
- Jon Jon Kostantis pitched a scoreless sixth with two strikeouts
- Another gutsy performance was turned in by Vince Coletti, going 3 1/3 innings and allowing one earned run with two K's
- After the go-ahead run, Zach Schneider was called upon, and he retired both batters he faced
- Six Owls had multi-hit efforts towards the team's season high of 14 hits (and for that matter, Sunday's 10 runs)
- Urbaez had his first three-hit game at FAU, and his first two-RBI game as well
- Alvarez notched his first two-RBI game as well, and added two hits for the second time
- On the season, those two are hitting .389 and .348, respectively
- Jared DeSantolo had two doubles and knocked in a run on a sacrifice fly
- Each of the top three hitters in the lineup had two-hit days: Rivera, Gunnar Lambert and Summerall, all going 2-for-5
- All 10 Owls that batted reached base, and eight scored at least one run
A brief two-game road set is next for the Owls, Tuesday and Wednesday in Jacksonville. They take on North Florida at 6:05 p.m. and 3:05 p.m., respectively, on those two days. After that is a 12-game homestand, spanning March 1-17, beginning on Friday night, March 1st, vs. Monmouth. Buy tickets at 1-866-FAU-OWLS or by visiting baseball's ticket website.
Â
%20(1).png&width=84&height=84&quality=100&type=webp)
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Schmitt, Ryan (1-0)
L: Coletti, Vince (0-1)
S: Sefcik, Quinten (1)
Batting:
2B: Taylor, Zac 1 ; Yalowitz, Jack 1
RBI: Troike, Ben 1 ; Comia, Branden 1 ; Yalowitz, Jack 1 ; McDonald, Cam 4 ; Sarver, Kellen 2 ; Michalak, Michael 1
SF: McDonald, Cam 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Troike, Ben 1 ; Comia, Branden 1 ; Massey, Michael 1 ; Taylor, Zac 3 ; Yalowitz, Jack 1 ; McDonald, Cam 1 ; Sarver, Kellen 2 ; Michalak, Michael 1
SB: Taylor, Zac 2 ; Yalowitz, Jack 1 ; Michalak, Michael 1
Batting:
2B: Lambert, Gunnar 1 ; Urbaez, Francisco 1 ; DeSantolo, Jared 2
RBI: Rivera, Eric 1 ; Summerall, Andru 2 ; Morgensen, Bobby 1 ; Urbaez, Francisco 2 ; DeSantolo, Jared 1 ; Alvarez, Wilfredo 2
SF: DeSantolo, Jared 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Rivera, Eric 2 ; Lambert, Gunnar 2 ; Summerall, Andru 1 ; Montes, Joe 1 ; Morgensen, Bobby 1 ; Urbaez, Francisco 1 ; DeSantolo, Jared 1 ; Alvarez, Wilfredo 1
HBP: Lambert, Gunnar 1 ; Morgensen, Bobby 1 ; Pino, Jacob 1
