Baseball Walks Off Senior Weekend Opener to Cap Late Rally

Thursday, May 16

Boca Raton, Fla.

6:30 PM

Florida Atlantic

35-18, 20-8

Middle Tennessee

18-35, 11-17

Middle Tennessee

Florida Atlantic

Photo by: JC Ridley/Owlpix.com

5/16/2019 11:52:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

BOCA RATON, Fla. – Trailing 4-0 through six a half innings, No. 29 Florida Atlantic University baseball scored three times, eventually tied it with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, and won it in walkoff fashion in the 11th to drop the magic number for a Conference USA regular season championship to one.

Because of UAB's extra inning win over Southern Miss, an Owl win or USM loss Friday would clinch at least a share of the title plus give FAU the No. 1 seed in next week's C-USA Championship.

NOTE: Saturday's finale has already been moved up, from a 1 p.m. to a noon start.

Quotable

Head Coach John McCormack:
"Wow, what a game. Didn't start out great, guys kinda kept in it, had some really, really good relief pitching. (Vince) Coletti, (Hunter) Cooley, DO (Dylan O'Connell) and Zach (Schneider) was amazing … Really good game, proud of the guys, but we've got to be better early in the game."

Full Opening Statement from Coach Mac

The Turning Point – The First One
Working on a three-hit shutout, Middle Tennessee (18-35, 11-17 C-USA) starter David Zoz came back out for the seventh but issued a leadoff walk and another with one out. On his 117th pitch of the night, Andru Summerall rocketed a double into the rightfield corner to halve the deficit. The Owls added another run on a two-out opposite field single by Bobby Morgensen to cut it to one.

The Turning Point – The Second One
In the bottom of the ninth, Eric Rivera drew a one-out walk, with Summerall hit by a pitch right after. Two batters later, it was Morgensen again with two outs, on a single to right to tie things. Zach Schneider got six of the seven batters he faced out, setting up the bottom of the 11th.

The Finish
Rivera's single to center, to start the bottom half, was his sixth time reaching base on the night. His first heads-up baserunning exploit of the inning came when he tagged from first to second on a deep flyball from Summerall, which necessitated an intentional walk of Pedro Pages. Again, MT was able to record a second out, bringing up Joe Montes. He hit a slow roller to shortstop and was able to beat out the throw, and Rivera never broke stride around third, sliding headfirst around the Blue Raider catcher for the game-winning run.

The Arms / The Gloves

Blake Sanderson's final start at FAU Baseball Stadium lasted five innings. He gave up three earned runs and struck out seven
From there, it was all zeroes. Four FAU relievers combined for six shutout innings, allowing just one hit and a total of only four baserunners
Vince Coletti was first, striking out two in the seventh. He walked one, while one runner reached on a dropped third strike
Included in the frame was Morgensen robbing MT's Myles Christian of a home run, going up and over the rightfield fence with a perfectly-timed leap
After Coletti with a tremendous outing was freshman lefty Hunter Cooley: six up, six down on 17 pitches
Dylan O'Connell allowed the only hit among the group, and it was a bunt single to start the ninth. That runner would be thrown out stealing by Pages, and Morgensen retired the next batter on a full-out dive in the right-centerfield alley, followed by a strikeout
Schneider (5-3) picked up the win, only issuing a leadoff walk before retiring the next six in order. He had the last two of the Owls' collective 13 strikeouts

The Bats

Rivera's night saw him single twice, walk four times, and score three of the Owls' five runs
Summerall and Morgensen combined to reach seven times while recording all four of FAU's RBI
Morgensen was 2-for-4 with two walks; Summerall had the two-run double, plus twice was hit by a pitch
Montes also had a two-hit game

What's Next

Friday's middle matchup will begin at 6:30 p.m. and feature starters Mike Ruff of FAU and MT's Peyton Wigginton. Get tickets by calling 1-866-FAU-OWLS or by going to baseball's ticket website.