Baseball Wins 20th Game of Season, Topping Miami Wednesday

Wednesday, April 3

Coral Gables, Fla.

6:00 PM

Florida Atlantic

20-9

Miami

18-11

Florida Atlantic

Miami

Photo by: JC Ridley/Owlpix.com

4/3/2019 9:52:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – A five-run fifth inning was nearly all the Florida Atlantic University baseball team needed, towards a 6-4 Wednesday night win at Mark Light Field, to move to 20-9 on the season.

Quotable

Head Coach John McCormack:
"A good win tonight down in Miami, I am very proud of the way the guys played. They kept grinding and made the plays. The difference was the five runs we scored in the fifth inning. After Sunday's 15-inning game, we had to use eight pitchers tonight and they did a good job. Nice win by the Owls."

The Turning Point
Miami (18-11) had a slim 1-0 lead, and starter Slade Cecconi was nearly perfect through four, allowing just a single. But the fifth began with four straight FAU (20-9) singles, scoring two, and after an out, another to make it 3-1. With two outs, a bloop single brought in two more for a 5-1 lead.

The Finish
The Hurricanes chipped away with one in the fifth and another in the seventh. FAU pushed across an insurance run in the top of the ninth to make it a three-run advantage at 6-3. Miami made it interesting in the bottom half, scoring one and they had the tying run at the plate, but a popout ended it to give the Owls the road win.

The Arms

The Owls threw eight pitchers on Wednesday
Jon Jon Kostantis started and actually had the longest stint of the eight, two innings, allowing one run
Vladimir Zavala and Eric Keating threw back-to-back scoreless; Keating (1-0) earned the win
The run in the fifth was charged to Dylan Carter
Jacob Josey pitched a scoreless sixth, and an unearned run came across against Michael Schuler in the seventh
He was relieved mid-inning by Vince Coletti, who was key, leaving two runners on in a two-run game
Coletti would pitch a scoreless eighth as well, helped out by a lineout double play
Zach Schneider earned his seventh save, closing it out in the ninth

The Bats

In that decisive fifth, Pedro Pages led off with a single as part of a 12-pitch at-bat, fouling off six pitches with two strikes. Bobby Morgensen followed with a base hit, and Joe Montes knocked in the Owls' first run with a single as well
Nicholas Toney was next, also with an RBI single, for the lead
Two batters later, Eric Rivera doubled to score one, and with two outs, it was a Francisco Urbaez single to close out the scoring in the inning, bringing in both Toney and Rivera
The insurance run came courtesy of Gunnar Lambert in the ninth, a two-out single down the line in left, plating Josey. Josey and Rivera both singled with two outs to extend the inning
Rivera and Lambert each had two hits on the night

What's Next

The Owls head to Charlotte this weekend for three against the 49ers, starting Friday. A week from that is a home set versus Louisiana Tech, April 12-14, and tickets can be had by calling 1-866-FAU-OWLS or visiting baseball's ticket website.