Owls Erupt for 10 in Win Over La. Tech

Friday, May 6

Ruston, La.

7 PM

Florida Atlantic

29-17, 14-8

Louisiana Tech

32-16, 14-8

Florida Atlantic

Louisiana Tech

5/6/2022 11:07:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

RUSTON, La. – Powered by a seven-run fifth inning, the Florida Atlantic University baseball team cruised to a 10-2 victory over Louisiana Tech on Friday night. The Owls and Bulldogs are now tied with identical 14-8 C-USA records.

THE BEGINNING

The first nine Owls hitters were retired in order by La. Tech starter Cade Gibson while Hunter Cooley allowed just one hit in first turn through. The FAU offense finally broke through in the fourth though. Gabriel Rincones, Jr. singled up the middle with one out and later scored on a base hit by Dylan Goldstein to break the deadlock.

THE TURNING POINT

Despite the strong start, it fell apart quickly for Gibson in the fifth. Tyler Kelder led off with a solo home run to left. After Caleb Pendleton singled, Gibson got back-to-back groundouts and looked to be on his way to escaping the inning. What followed, however, was a walk, two hit by pitches, and two infield singles. A 2-0 lead suddenly became a 5-0 lead for the Owls and Gibson's night was over. They would add three more via another bases loaded walk and a two-RBI single by Pendleton. All totaled, 12 men came to the plate for FAU in the inning with seven crossing the plate.

THE FINISH

Pendleton drove in his third run of the night in the seventh inning and Goldstein homered off the batter's eye in center in the eighth to complete the FAU scoring. After eight innings from Cooley, Marc DeGusipe pitched a one-two-three ninth to close it out.

QUOTABLE

Head coach John McCormack
"The guys swung the bat very well but more importantly, we played good defense. Nolan [Schanuel] was great tonight. Picked two short hop throws, caught two balls up against the screen. Cooley did what he needed to do, throwing strikes. The guys played well, we had energy. Tough place to play and I thought we handled ourselves well."

THE ARMS

Cooley nearly went the distance for the third time in four games but settled for eight frames after 118 pitches. He's now 7-3 on the season
The senior struck out five and walked just one
DeGusipe struck out two of three hitters he faced in the ninth. The redshirt sophomore will also be the Owls' starter on Saturday

THE BATS

The Owls racked up 12 hits with eight coming from the trio of Goldstein, Kelder, and Pendleton
Goldstein finished 3-for-5 with three RBI including his 14th home run of the season
Pendleton matched the 3-for-5, three RBI line of Goldstein
Kelder hit his fifth home run of the season and also doubled. The graduate transfer from St. Bonaventure has consecutive multi-hit games
Jackson Ross finished 2-for-5 with an RBI as well

WHAT'S NEXT

Game two on Saturday is scheduled for a 3 pm (EST) first pitch. Sunday's series finale has been moved up to an 11:30 am start.

TICKETS

To purchase FAU tickets, call 1-866-FAU-OWLS or click HERE. Stay informed by reading FAUSports.com, or through the baseball's Twitter and Instagram accounts @FAUBaseball.