Baseball Posts Doubleheader and Weekend Sweep of Binghamton

Sunday, February 23

Boca Raton, Fla.

10:00 AM

Florida Atlantic

6-0

Binghamton

0-5

Binghamton

Florida Atlantic

Photo by: JC Ridley/Owlpix.com

2/23/2020 7:44:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

BOCA RATON, Fla. – The Florida Atlantic University baseball team took both ends of Sunday's doubleheader over Binghamton, 9-4 and 11-4, to sweep the Bearcats and is off to an unblemished 7-0 start to the 2020 campaign.

Quotable

Head Coach John McCormack:
"Well, it was a long day, the guys played well enough and we won both games … We hit some home runs, Nick Toney, (Jackson) Wenstrom, we did some good things. But overall, in general, we've just got to play better. Especially that first game, with some defensive miscues, (and) there were some things that weren't errors which were probably more mental mistakes that cost us a run or two. All in all, it was a good weekend, we won three games, scored some runs, but we've got to continue to improve and get better."

Full Opening Statement from Coach Mac

The Turning Point – Game One
The Owls got on the board first, but Binghamton had a 2-1 lead after runs in the fourth and fifth. In the bottom of the fifth, FAU plated four, on a BJ Murray solo home run, an Alex Arauz RBI single and two-run Jackson Wenstrom single.

The Finish – Game One
The Owls scored twice more in each of the sixth and seventh (two unearned, and two on singles by Wenstrom and Mitchell Hartigan), and Adrien Reese and Michael Schuler shut the door on the Bearcats.

The Arms – Game One

Corey Ireson drew the start, going 4 2/3 and allowing two unearned runs
The win, for the second time this year in relief, went to Reese (2-0). He struck out four and gave up two runs in 2 1/3
Schuler worked around baserunners in each of his two scoreless innings

The Bats – Game One

Wenstrom knocked in his first three RBI as an Owl
Wilfredo Alvarez reached base five times in the win
With two-hit games were Francisco Urbaez, Murray and Hartigan; Murray and Hartigan both scored twice
The Owls walked 10 times and were hit by two pitches

The Turning Point – Game Two
Similar to game one, FAU took the early lead (a bases-loaded walk to Andru Summerall) before BU tied it, at 1-1 in the fourth. Wenstrom tattooed a shot over the rightfield scoreboard, a three-run homer, for a 4-1 lead in the home half of the fourth, and after BU cut it to 4-3, FAU scored five while batting around in the sixth (the big blow, another three-run shot, this time came courtesy of Nicholas Toney).

The Finish – Game Two
Bobby Morgensen homered in the seventh, to about the same exact spot as Wenstrom's, and Urbaez singled in the final run in the eighth (sandwiched around a BU run in the eighth as well). Four FAU relievers closed things out behind freshman starter Dante Visconti, who earned his first collegiate win.

The Arms – Game Two

Visconti (1-0) threw five innings of two-run baseball, striking out four
After BU cut it to 4-3 in the sixth and had runners on the corners, Mike Entenza got a strikeout to keep the tying run at third, then dealt a perfect seventh on 13 pitches
Brycen Allen made his debut and struck out his first hitter as an Owl
Hartigan came on and put a bow on the weekend with a 1-2-3 ninth

The Bats – Game Two

Morgensen, Toney and Wenstrom all homered and combined to go 7-for-14 with six runs scored and seven RBI
In the three-hole, Morgensen was 3-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI
Toney and Wenstrom each had two hits, scored two runs, and knocked in three
For Toney, it was his first collegiate home run; for Wenstrom, his first as an Owl
The Owls added 11 more walks in the finale to total 21 free passes on the day and 29 on the weekend
All nine Owls reached in both Sunday games
The quintet of Urbaez, Alvarez, Morgensen, Summerall and Hartigan have reached base in all seven FAU games this year. Urbaez has at least one hit in all seven games, Hartigan has five multi-hit games, and Alvarez's reached-base streak – dating back to last year – has now reached 15 games in a row

What's Next

The Owls will not have a midweek upcoming, instead traveling for the first time in 2020 for three games next weekend in Tallahassee. On Friday, it's a doubleheader against Texas Tech (1 p.m.) and Florida State (6 p.m.); on Saturday, it's FAU vs. FSU at 2 p.m.