It Takes 15 Innings, But Baseball Finalizes Sweep of FIU with Sunday Walkoff

Sunday, March 31

Boca Raton, Fla.

12:00 PM

Florida Atlantic

19-9, 0

FIU

11-17, 0

FIU

Florida Atlantic

Photo by: JC Ridley/Owlpix.com

It Takes 15 Innings, But Baseball Finalizes Sweep of FIU with Sunday Walkoff

3/31/2019 7:06:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

BOCA RATON, Fla. – Florida Atlantic University baseball moved to the top of the Conference USA standings Sunday afternoon when Joe Montes doubled in Diamond Johnson for a walkoff win in the bottom of the 15th inning, defeating FIU 4-3 and sweeping the weekend series.

Sunday's game is the second longest since the Owls have been in C-USA, with a complete 15-inning game three years ago at home versus Charlotte (April 10, 2016, a 7-6 loss). Speaking of Charlotte, the 49ers played to a curfew tie Sunday at WKU, 13-13, meaning the Hilltoppers are now 7-1-1 in league play, a half-game behind FAU.

Quotable

Head Coach John McCormack:
"What a baseball game. Credit to FIU, I know things were not going their way this weekend … their guys made some really nice plays, our guys made some really nice plays. That was a really, really good baseball game and I'm proud of both teams. Happy we won, but I'm proud of both teams."

Full Opening Statement from Coach Mac

The Turning Point
FIU (11-17, 2-7 C-USA), after leading 2-0 early but giving it up in the fifth, moved back ahead on a Jose Garcia home run in the sixth. FAU (19-9, 8-1 C-USA) knotted it back up in the eighth on a Montes RBI double with two outs, scoring Johnson, who had pinch-ran and stole second before the hit.

The Finish
The game was literally all zeroes after that until the winning hit. On the FAU side of things, Zach Schneider came on in the ninth and pitched all the way to the 14th, setting career highs of six innings, 109 pitches and six strikeouts. Michael Schuler relieved him in the 15th, and a double play (Jacob Josey to Francisco Urbaez to Gunnar Lambert) kept things tied, setting up the bottom half. Johnson singled through the left side with one out, and on the very first pitch he saw, Montes short-hopped the fence in leftfield to easily score the game-winning run:

Montes' Walkoff!! pic.twitter.com/DdOqWlVz2J
— FAU Baseball (@FAU_Baseball) March 31, 2019

The Arms

Nick Swan drew the Sunday start, allowing two runs in three innings before giving way to Jon Jon Kostantis
After two scoreless, Kostantis gave up the then-go-ahead home run in the sixth, but nothing else
In fact, that was all FAU pitching would give up, run-wise, in the game
Vince Coletti was scoreless in the seventh and eighth, just a hit against him, and three strikeouts
In Schneider's six-inning stint, he scattered five hits, but had the six K's against just one walk
Schuler (1-0) picked up his first collegiate victory in his first decision
Over the series, Owls' pitching gave up just four runs in 33 innings, a 1.09 ERA, and limited FIU hitting to a .207 average. Included was 16 1/3 straight scoreless frames (from Friday's fourth inning until Sunday's second), and additionally, the final nine innings Sunday

The Bats

Montes had three doubles in all, among the Owls' nine hits
He was the only hitter with more than one baseknock; with one each were Johnson, Summerall, Eric Rivera, Bobby Morgensen, Jared DeSantolo and Gunnar Lambert
Morgensen had an RBI single in the fourth; Mitchell Hartigan plated a run with a squeeze bunt in the fifth
Rivera actually reached four times, getting hit by a pitch twice, plus a walk
Josey laid down three sacrifice bunts in the ballgame

What's Next

Next week is four road games for the Owls: Away at Miami on Wednesday, and a trip to Charlotte over the weekend. The following week, there is no Tuesday/Wednesday game, just a home series hosting Louisiana Tech (April 12-14), with tickets available by calling 1-866-FAU-OWLS or visiting baseball's ticket website.