Cooley’s Complete Game Leads Florida Atlantic Past Rice

Thursday, May 25

Houston, Texas

5 p.m.

Florida Atlantic

34-24

Rice

21-37

Rice

Florida Atlantic

Photo by: Conference USA

5/25/2023 11:01:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

HOUSTON, Texas – Florida Atlantic baseball defeated Rice 6-1 on Thursday on the back of starter Hunter Cooley. The graduate senior tossed a complete game with a career-high 12 strikeouts. The Owls avoided elimination and will play another win-or-go-home game on Friday at 6:30 p.m. EST.

THE BEGINNING

The FAU offense scored early with four runs in the second inning and two more in the fourth. Spencer Rich's RBI-double off the wall in center field got things going. Three batters later, Caleb Pendleton connected for a three-run home run to make it 4-0. In the fourth inning, Jackson Ross launched a 410-foot missile over the left field berm to tack on two more.

THE TURNING POINT

Rice had two on with no one out in the third inning before Cooley struck out the top three hitters in the Owls' order. Rice threatened again in the sixth, this time with back-to-back singles with one out. Again, FAU's co-captain eluded the damage with a double play ball to get out of the inning unscathed.

THE FINISH

Cooley was destined to finish what he started in the top of the ninth. Though he allowed two hits to break the shutout, he picked up strikeouts number 11 and 12 to set a new career high. Cooley recorded FAU's first complete game of the season.

QUOTABLE

Postgame with @FAUCoachMac #WinningInParadise pic.twitter.com/YAgrT6prrp
— FAU Baseball (@FAUBaseball) May 26, 2023

THE ARMS

Cooley recorded the fifth complete game of his career.
His 12 strikeouts are the fourth-most in C-USA Tournament history.
Cooley threw 119 pitches, allowed six hits, and did not walk a batter. He has walked just 14 batters all season in 85 innings.

THE BATS

Ross and John Schroeder each registered multi-hit games for the offense. Ross homered and doubled while Schroeder singled and doubled.
Nolan Schanuel walked and singled to extend his reached-base streak to 53 games.

WHAT'S NEXT

The Owls will meet WKU for the fifth time this season in another elimination game on Friday evening. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. EST. The full tournament bracket can be viewed here.