FAU Baseball Logs Win No. 30 By Routing FGCU, 11-5

Tuesday, April 30

Boca Raton, Fla.

6:30 PM

Florida Atlantic

30-14

Florida Gulf Coast

30-15

FGCU

Florida Atlantic

Photo by: JC Ridley/Owlpix.com

4/30/2019 11:16:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

BOCA RATON, Fla. – A five-run second sprung Florida Atlantic University baseball out to a 7-1 lead, and four runs late sealed it, as the Owls topped Florida Gulf Coast on Tuesday night at home, 11-5.

Quotable

Head Coach John McCormack:
"Very nice Tuesday night win. Coming off exams, we had some guys leave during the game for an exam, we have some guys that have an exam tomorrow, so I think it was a really nice win with a lot of moving parts going on … (Hunter) Cooley, that was his best performance of the year, well-needed. We did what we were supposed to do early, scored seven runs, got out in front. (We) held the lead, and we were able to tack on a few at the end."

Full Opening Statement from Coach Mac

The Turning Point
Though FGCU (30-15) took the lead in their first at-bat, on a two-out double, the Owls (30-14) leapt ahead to stay in the bottom half. Also with two down, Joe Montes laced a single the opposite way to score two, and FAU added five more in the second (on just one hit, ironically another Montes single with two down). The other three runs came in on two bases-loaded walks, and an error on the backend of the Montes hit.

The Finish
Hunter Cooley pitched into the sixth, and had only given up one run before the Eagles got to him for three with two outs in his final frame. Vince Coletti got the next batter out, and pitched two more scoreless, while the offense added insurance with one in the sixth (a Bobby Morgensen RBI single), one in the seventh (an Eric Rivera RBI single), and a two-run Morgensen shot in the eighth that bounced off the top of the rightfield scoreboard.

The Arms

Cooley (4-3) went a career-long 5 2/3 and matched his best with four strikeouts. He had allowed just a run on five hits before the last two reached against him
Coletti's 2 1/3 scoreless was on two hits with two strikeouts
Dylan O'Connell pitched the ninth, allowing an unearned run, but striking out the side

The Bats

Montes' four RBI is a new FAU career high; Morgensen's four is one off his, set last week
The two combined to go 4-for-9 (of the Owls' seven hits) with those eight RBI (of 10)
Leadoff batter Eric Rivera reached four times, going 2-for-3 with a walk and a HBP, and scoring three runs
Pedro Pages became the first Owl this season to draw four walks in a game, and he scored twice
FAU hitters took nine walks and had three batters hit with a pitch; eight of the nine Owl starters reached base
All but the two runs scoring on Morgensen's sixth home run came with two outs (additionally, all five FGCU runs did as well)
Consecutive game streaks reaching base were extended by Pages (25), Rivera (20) and Morgensen (18). Morgensen's two hits moves him to a nine-game hitting streak

What's Next

The Owls embark on an eight-game, 10-day road trip with the first of eight this Friday night at Conference USA-leading Southern Miss. The next home game comes on May 14, against UCF. Tickets are available by calling 1-866-FAU-OWLS or by going to baseball's ticket website.