GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Behind 5-1, 7-4, and then 11-9 going into the ninth, the No. 28 Florida Atlantic University baseball team pulled off a remarkable comeback win with four runs in their final at-bat Tuesday night over Florida, 13-11, in a game featuring those 24 runs and 34 hits.
Head Coach
John McCormack:
"Wow, what a game. The team was very resilient tonight. They were into the game, from the time we got off the bus, they were ready to go. Very proud of them. We came out and scored one, and then we were down four (5-1), down three (7-4), and then down two, but we just kept pounding back. Pitchers did enough and we come away with the victory. Pedro (Pages) gets the big hit in the top of the ninth, and I can't say enough about
Joe Montes' triple. I never saw them overturning that call. Zach (Schneider) came in and nailed it down, just a great win on the road. Fantastic job by everybody, a lot of guys helped out, fantastic win by the team."
The Turning Point – The First One
FAU (28-12) got on the board first, in the first, but Florida (26-17) scored five times in the second, four on an Austin Langworthy grand slam. Though the Owls plated three in the fourth, (none on a hit: a bases-loaded balk, a wild pitch and a passed ball) to cut it to 5-4, another UF homer pushed the Gators back out by three the next half-inning. Then, in the FAU fifth,
Joe Montes singled, and back-to-back walks were issued to
Andru Summerall and
Pedro Pages to load the bases for
Bobby Morgensen, immediately notching the game's second grand slam on the very first pitch, a moon shot over the rightfield scoreboard, and an 8-7 Owl lead.
The Turning Point – The Second One
UF tied it in the fifth, and moved back ahead by two in the seventh, 10-8. Each team scored in their half of the eighth, still making it a two-run Florida lead heading into the final inning.
The Finish
The Owl ninth started with a walk to
Gunnar Lambert, who went to second on defensive indifference. Pinch-hitter
Richie Nizza then rapped a single through the left side, followed by an
Eric Rivera sac fly to cut it to one. With Nizza at first, Montes hit a bullet to the right-centerfield alley, with Nizza scoring easily to tie things at 11-11. Montes would be called out trying to stretch it into a triple, but instant replay overturned the call, putting him at third with one out. UF pitching would then load the bases, with
Francisco Urbaez hit by a pitch and Summerall walked. Three pitches later,
Pedro Pages lined a single to left to score two, the biggest FAU lead of the night.
Zach Schneider, who had come on in the eighth, walked the leadoff hitter in the bottom half, but retired the next three, two on strikeouts, to earn the win.
The Arms / The Gloves
- After UF took a 5-1 lead, Ryan Sandberg put a temporary band-aid on it, with a scoreless third inning of work
- In the fourth, Eric Keating got a strikeout and groundout to strand three
- Michael Schuler dealt the only 1-2-3 inning of the night for Owls' pitching, in the sixth, after holding the Gators to a run in the fifth
- A double play in the seventh, though it scored a run, helped Vince Coletti limit the damage in the inning
- Schneider (3-1) came on in the eighth, pitching 1 2/3 innings in total with three total K's
- Pages cut down two runners trying to steal in the early innings, and two dynamite diving stops at the hot corner by Montes saved extra-base hits and runs
The Bats
- Morgensen notched an FAU-high five RBI
- He was one of four Owls with two hits, along with Montes, Urbaez and Summerall
- Urbaez also walked once and was hit by a pitch twice, scoring three times
- Montes, Pages (who walked three times) and Morgensen all scored twice. Both Montes and Morgensen walked once too, and Summerall twice
- Every Owl that came to the plate, including the pinch-hitter Nizza, reached base
- In addition to 13 hits, the Owls drew 11 walks, had the two HBP of Urbaez, the wild pitch, balk and two passed balls
The Owls return home after this five-game road trip, Friday for the first of three against Old Dominion at FAU Baseball Stadium. Get tickets by calling 1-866-FAU-OWLS or going to
baseball's ticket website.