Florida Atlantic University Athletics
Inconceivable Ninth Inning Comeback Lifts Baseball to Finale Win
4/28/2019 5:18:00 PM | Baseball
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"We won. Very improbable victory … It was some really good at-bats, and I had thought during the game, for the most part we had good at-bats. And (in the ninth), the balls had fallen, the balls got through the infield. The guys stuck with it, we got enough outs and we ended up getting the 'W.' It's a huge win for our program, happy for the guys."
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Full Opening Statement from Coach Mac
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The Turning Point
From the time FAU (29-14, 15-6 Conference USA) tied it in the fourth, until heading to the plate for their final at-bat, Old Dominion (26-17, 9-12 C-USA) scored six unanswered runs, including three in the eighth. Up 7-1, ODU starter Ryne Moore entered the ninth having posted three straight 1-2-3 innings, retiring 11 in a row and 14 of 15, and came back out looking for the complete game victory.
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The Finish
The ninth began when Pages hit a hard shot down the leftfield line, fielded by ODU's third baseman Bryce Windham on a dive. But his throw bounced and got past first, allowing Pages to reach second on the hit and error. Francisco Urbaez rapped a clean single through the left side, and Mitchell Hartigan followed by turning on a 2-0 pitch deep to right for a three-run homer. Still, ODU led 7-4, with the bases empty.
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The Monarchs turned to lefthanded reliever Isaiah Nelson, and Richie Nizza greeted him with a pinch-hit single. After a fielder's choice, another new pitcher, Morgan Maguire, hit Eric Rivera with the first pitch he would offer, and then he walked Andru Summerall on a 3-2 pitch to load the bases. Joe Montes lined a single to deep right to score two, cutting it to 7-6 with one out.
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Maguire would hit another Owl, Bobby Morgensen, loading the bases and necessitating another pitching change. Pages would come up for the second time in the inning, against Connor Muly, and on a 3-2 count, he lined this single up the middle to score two and send the Owls out of the dugout in celebration:
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ICYMI: Pedro pages RBI single to win the game!! pic.twitter.com/AirH3k6Aml
— Owls Baseball (@FAU_Baseball) April 28, 2019
The Arms
- In his first collegiate start, Jacob Josey was very good, allowing just a run on five hits in four innings of work. He struck out a career-best four in his longest outing
- Hunter Cooley (3-3) picked up the win after a six-pitch, 1-2-3 top of the ninth. He got a lineout and two groundouts to send it to the victorious bottom half
- Hartigan set a career high with four RBI. He had an infield single to knock in the Owls' run in the fourth, plus the ninth-inning shot, his fifth of the year
- Pages went 4-for-5, including the two-hit ninth. He has reached base in 24 consecutive games
- Rivera has been on base in 19 straight after a 2-for-4 game; Morgensen extended his mark to 17 in a row and has an eight-game hitting streak as well
- The Owls had six hits in the ninth after Moore scattered eight hits in the previous eight innings, all singles
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Cooley, Hunter (3-3)
L: Morgan Maguire (1-4)
Batting:
HR: Bryce Windham 1 ; Tommy Bell 1
RBI: Bryce Windham 2 ; Vinnie Pasquantino 1 ; Andy Garriola 1 ; Tommy Bell 2 ; Jared Hancock 1
SH: Matt Schwarz 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Bryce Windham 3 ; Cory Alexander II 1 ; Matt Schwarz 1 ; Tommy Bell 1 ; Jared Hancock 1
SB: Jared Hancock 1
HBP: Matt Burch 1

Batting:
HR: Hartigan, Mitchell 1
RBI: Montes, Joe 2 ; Pages, Pedro 2 ; Hartigan, Mitchell 4
Base Running:
RUNS: Rivera, Eric 1 ; Summerall, Andru 1 ; Montes, Joe 1 ; Morgensen, Bobby 1 ; Pages, Pedro 1 ; Urbaez, Francisco 1 ; Hartigan, Mitchell 1 ; Murray, B.J. 1
CS: Rivera, Eric 1
HBP: Rivera, Eric 1 ; Morgensen, Bobby 1