Baseball Kicks Off Road Trip with Win over No. 29 USM

Friday, May 3

Hattiesburg, Miss.

7:00 PM

Florida Atlantic

31-14, 16-6

Southern Miss

30-14, 17-5

Florida Atlantic

Southern Miss

Photo by: Eric Espada/Owlpix.com

5/3/2019 11:31:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Florida Atlantic University baseball and No. 29 Southern Miss went back and forth for seven innings on Friday, with four ties and two lead changes. But the Owls went ahead to stay in the eighth and snapped the Golden Eagles' nine-game winning streak in the process, 8-5 in the first game of three at Pete Taylor Park. The team are now separated by one game in the Conference USA standings.

Quotable
Head Coach John McCormack:
"What a great game, guys played great. The offense was fantastic tonight, we had a ton of two-out big hits. Proud of the guys, played clean defense, and you just can't say enough about the clutch hitting. It was an impressive win for the Owls."

The Turning Point
The game was tied at 1-1, 2-2, 3-3 and then with a Southern Miss (30-14, 17-5 C-USA) run in the bottom of the seventh, at 4-4. In the FAU (31-14, 16-6 C-USA) eighth, Joe Montes doubled into the leftfield corner to lead off the inning, and Andru Summerall singled up the middle four pitches later to knock him in and make it 5-4.

The Finish
Vince Coletti threw a 1-2-3 eighth, the first delivered by Owls' pitching on the night. Insurance was added when Eric Rivera plated two with a single to center, and Diamond Johnson singled in another, for a four-run lead. Southern Miss scored one in the home half, and had the tying run at the plate with one out, but Zach Schneider struck out Matt Wallner and induced a flyout to end it.

The Arms

Blake Sanderson turned in a quality start, three runs on seven hits in six innings
Coletti (4-2) earned the win, striking out three in 2 1/3
Schneider posted his 11th save

The Bats

Eight of the nine starters, plus Johnson, contributed hits towards FAU's 13 total
Mitchell Hartigan had a 3-for-4 night with two runs scored and an RBI (a two-out single in the fourth)
The bottom third of the lineup reached a combined seven times: Hartigan three times, Francisco Urbaez three times (two walks and a single), and Wilfredo Alvarez tacked on an RBI single in the seventh
Montes and Pedro Pages each had two hits; Montes with his sixth home run and a double (plus a walk), Pages with a single and a double
Rivera had three RBI

What's Next
Game two against the Golden Eagles is scheduled for 3 p.m. Eastern (2 p.m. locally). It's the second of eight in a row on the road, with the first game back in Boca Raton on May 14 against UCF. Tickets are available by calling 1-866-FAU-OWLS or by going to baseball's ticket website.