RUSTON, La. – Florida Atlantic University baseball saw a close game get broken open late by Old Dominion in the opening matchup of the 2021 Air Force Reserve Conference USA Championship, falling 11-2 to the Monarchs on Wednesday.
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Quotable
Head Coach
John McCormack:
"We knew coming here that we were going to have to play well, Old Dominion is a very good team. They've played well all year (and) they are complete: they play good defense, they swing the bats well, which we saw today, and of course they can pitch. We get off to a bad start, 2-0, we climb back into it, 3-2, the thing that killed us was they turned around and scored right away, and we weren't able to match them. They settled down and threw well after that. But it's a double elimination tournament, and that's why we get to play again tomorrow."
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The Beginning
ODU (39-14) scored twice in the first and once more in the third. But the Owls (30-24) cut it to a one-run game in the fourth, with
B.J. Murray doubling and scoring on an RBI groundout by
Steven Loden, followed by
Bobby Morgensen's solo home run with two outs.
The Turning Point
The Monarchs added one in the bottom half, but it was still just a two-run deficit when they put up a seven-spot in the seventh. Five of those runs came with two outs.
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The Finish
After that, the Owls had a runner on in each of the last two innings, but were held off the scoreboard, with ODU reliever Jason Hartline earning a three-inning save.
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The Arms
The Bats
What's Next
The Owls play either Charlotte or Middle Tennessee in Thursday's first game, scheduled for 10 a.m. Eastern.
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