Baseball Falls for Second Time to Monarchs

Saturday, April 27

Boca Raton, Fla.

4:00 PM

Florida Atlantic

28-14, 14-6

Old Dominion

26-16, 9-11

Old Dominion

Florida Atlantic

4/27/2019 8:35:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

BOCA RATON, Fla. – The Florida Atlantic University baseball team cut a five-run deficit down to one, but a six-run Old Dominion eighth sealed the series for the Monarchs, 12-6 on Saturday night. The Owls look to avoid a sweep with the Sunday finale beginning at noon.

Quotable

Head Coach John McCormack:
"(Credit to) Old Dominion for winning the series. We didn't do much of anything today, we didn't pitch well … Down 5-0 before we could do anything. We scraped back into it, 5-4, and then we have an absolutely meltdown with the pitching staff (in the eighth). They see a wounded pitching staff, and they took advantage of it. Tomorrow is huge. I never say 'must-win,' but it is certainly a crucial game."

Full Opening Statement from Coach Mac

The Turning Point
ODU (26-16, 9-11 Conference USA) took a 5-0 lead early, with runs in each of the first four innings, and heading into the sixth, FAU (28-14, 14-6 C-USA) had only two hits, and hadn't yet gotten a runner into scoring position. The Owls broke through with three, two on an Andru Summerall two-out single, and a Bobby Morgensen home run leading off the seventh cut it to 5-4. But the Monarchs brought 11 to the plate in the crucial eighth to regain the momentum.

The Finish
FAU got back two in their half of the eighth, as Morgensen knocked in two more with a seeing-eye single. An unearned run came across for ODU in the ninth, and the Monarchs stranded two in the bottom half to clinch the series.

The Arms

Mike Ruff (4-3) took the loss
Putting up two zeroes after the Monarchs had scored in every inning to that point was reliever Eric Keating. He scattered three hits and had two strikeouts in his two frames
Inheriting first and second with one out, and with already, six runs having scored in in the eighth, Jon Jon Kostantis came in to get the next two outs
He gave up just two hits and an unearned run in 1 2/3 innings, with a K

The Bats

Morgensen was 2-for-3, and his three RBI gives him 26 this year. He now has a seven-game hitting streak and has reached base in each of his last 16 games
Summerall has two RBI in each game of the series and 32 on the season, tying for the team lead
Along with Morgensen, Pedro Pages (23 games) and Eric Rivera (18) also extended their streaks reaching base. Each had a hit and a walk

What's Next

The Sunday finale will pit starting pitchers Jacob Josey against Ryne Moore of ODU. Get tickets by calling 1-866-FAU-OWLS or going to baseball's ticket website.