Baseball Takes Pitcher’s Duel to Take Series with FIU

Saturday, March 30

Boca Raton, Fla.

4:00 PM

Florida Atlantic

18-9, 0

FIU

11-16, 0

FIU

Florida Atlantic

Photo by: JC Ridley/Owlpix.com

3/30/2019 7:04:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

BOCA RATON, Fla. – The Florida Atlantic University baseball team, behind a combined five-hit shutout from Mike Ruff and Zach Schneider, clinched the conference set Saturday night against FIU by the slimmest of margins, 1-0.

Quotable

Head Coach John McCormack:
"You don't see many one-nothing games in college baseball these days. Mike Ruff was fantastic and Zach (Schneider) was really good. We did enough offensively to win one-nothing, so it was a good game."

Full Opening Statement from Coach Mac

The Turning Point
The Owls (18-9, 7-1 Conference USA) had a runner on in each of their first five frames, but were able to finally push one across in the sixth. Andru Summerall led off and reached on an error, moved to second on a Pedro Pages single and third on a groundout to the right side. A wild pitch on a 1-1 count provided the game's only run, and the Owl pitching was able to make it hold up.

The Finish
Ruff was dominant, with only two bunt singles against him in the first six innings, and another single up the middle in the seventh. He ran into his only bit of trouble in the eighth, issuing a one-out walk, and after an out, another infield single, and a two-out walk. With the bases loaded, the Owls turned to closer Zach Schneider, who struck out Javier Valdes looking on a 2-2 pitch to keep the lead. He gave up a single in the ninth but nothing more for his sixth save and the Owls' seventh win in eight league games.

The Arms

Ruff (4-0) went a career-long 7 2/3 innings and struck out a career-high 11 Panthers (also the season high by an Owl pitcher)
Only one of the four hits against him left the infield, and it was until the eighth before FIU put multiple runners on
Schneider got his sixth save in seven games. Here is his strikeout to end the eighth:

pic.twitter.com/1DoOAQ36ob
— FAU Baseball (@FAU_Baseball) March 30, 2019

The duo combined for 13 punchouts, matching a season high as a team (Rice on March 17)

The Bats

The Owls had seven hits, two each by Mitchell Hartigan and Pages. Hartigan has now reached base in 15 consecutive games, the highest amount by an Owl this year
Among his two hits, Hartigan had a double (as did Francisco Urbaez) and Pages walked for the team-high 15th time this year to reach three times
Gunnar Lambert tripled with one out in the first; Bobby Morgensen added the team's other hit, a single in the fourth

What's Next

The series finale begins at noon on Sunday, Nick Swan starting for the Owls against FIU's Franco Aleman. Tickets are available by calling 1-866-FAU-OWLS or visiting baseball's ticket website.