Baseball Takes Conference Opener over Rice

Friday, March 15

Boca Raton, Fla.

6:30 PM

Florida Atlantic

12-7, 0

Rice

8-12, 0

Rice

Florida Atlantic

Photo by: JC Ridley/Owlpix.com

3/15/2019 10:56:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

BOCA RATON, Fla. – The Florida Atlantic University baseball team touched Rice ace Matt Canterino for four runs in the first, and made it hold up in a 4-2 Friday night win to open up the first Conference USA series of the season, at FAU Baseball Stadium.

Quotable

Head Coach John McCormack:
"Really good Friday night win to start conference. To get four runs off Canterino in the first … that guy's really good. His stuff wasn't great in the first inning, and we were able to capitalize, guys came out ready to go. Sandy (Blake Sanderson) didn't have his best stuff, but made it hold up, and then (Dylan) Carter, (Vince) Coletti and (Zach) Schneider were really good."

Full Opening Statement from Coach Mac

The Turning Point
After Blake Sanderson dealt a five-pitch perfect top half of the first, his FAU (12-7, 1-0 Conference USA) offense batted all the way through the lineup in the bottom. Eric Rivera led off with a hard-hit single, and an out later, came in on a Francisco Urbaez double into the leftfield corner. An Andru Summerall single put runners on the corners, and Pedro Pages made it 2-0 with a sac fly. The rally continued with two outs, as Jared DeSantolo singled and Joe Montes drew a walk to load the bases. Then, Mitchell Hartigan skied a flyball to shallow left, and three Rice (8-12, 0-1 C-USA) defenders couldn't battle the sun, wind or themselves, as it dropped fair and allowed two more runs to score.

The Finish
Rice would score once in the fifth and the sixth, and a high pitch count and more walks than usual forced Sanderson out with a two-run lead after that final inning. Dylan Carter dealt a perfect seventh, Vince Coletti allowed a leadoff single but nothing more (inducing a flyout and recording two strikeouts), and Zach Schneider worked around a one-out single with a groundout and flyout to seal it.

The Arms

Sanderson improved to 4-0, striking out five and scattering six hits
Carter needed just 10 pitches for his 1-2-3 frame
Coletti now has 27 strikeouts in 20 1/3 innings and has given up just one run over his last six outings, spanning 9 1/3
Schneider has five straight saves in as many outings, in the Owls' last eight games. All five have been scoreless

The Bats

Rivera (three), Urbaez (two) and Hartigan (also two) combined for seven of the team's 10 hits
Rivera is batting .395 on the year, and during his current eight-game hitting streak, is 18-for-33 (.545)
Urbaez is at an even .400 overall, and recorded his team-high fifth double Friday. He is also slugging .767
Hartigan has hit safely in his last six games, with five RBI in his last two

What's Next

The series continues Saturday at 4 p.m., Mike Ruff (FAU) versus Evan Kravetz (Rice) as the pitching matchup. Get tickets by calling 1-866-FAU-OWLS or visiting baseball's ticket website.