Series Thread: FAU @ Arkansas State - March 22-24, 2013
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What: Florida Atlantic (13-8, 2-1) at Arkansas State (15-7, 3-0)
When: Fri, Mar 22 at 7:00 p.m.
Sat, Mar 23 at 5:00 p.m.
Sun, Mar 24 at 2:00 p.m.
Where: Tomlinson Stadium-Kell Field
Audio: Here
Stats: Here
Video: None
Series: FAU leads 10-5-1, and won last season's lone meeting in Boca Raton 6-2 after the first two games were cancelled.
The Red Wolves have won just one series against FAU.
Projected Pitchers:
Friday: FAU - LHP Austin Gomber (2-1, 1.62 ERA, 30 K, 5 BB)
ASU - RHP Daniel Wright (2-1, 3.48 ERA, 30 K, 8 BB)
Saturday: FAU - RHP Jake Meiers (1-2, 4.88 ERA, 19 K, 7 BB)
ASU - LHP Chandler Hawkins (2-0, 1.80 ERA, 17 K, 9 BB)
Sunday: FAU - RHP Jeremy Strawn (1-1, 4.15 ERA, 18 K, 5 BB)
ASU - RHP Bradley Wallace (3-0, 2.38 ERA, 32 K, 7 BB)
Florida Atlantic hits the road for the first time in league play this weekend. They've slid a bit with bat in hand as of late, and will receive a tough challenge to move the needle in the other direction against the Red Wolves.
C Mike Spano (.311) is pacing the squad, and is ironically the only player in the active rotation yet to score a run on the season. Spano had a successful outing against Florida International last weekend, going 4-for-7 overall with 4RBI, and driving in the winning score in FAU's 6-5 win in the bottom half of the 9th inning on Saturday.
Tyler Rocklein (.300) is tied with 3B Ricky Santiago for both plates appearances (80) and double-baggers (7), but owns a unit best 24 hits. Rounding out the trio is Mitch Morales (.306), who continues to produce at a success rate well above his .246 showing during the 2012 slate.
"He's worked hard to stay on the baseball and go back up the middle", said Coach John McCormack of the improvement. "He has some really good at bats, and has been more consistent with quality contact."
As a whole, the Owls are hitting .286 and occupy the 5th in the Sun Belt, with an 86th showing on the national level.
Friday night starter Austin Gomber leads the Sun Belt in ERA with a sporty 1.62 mark while topping the Owls in both innings pitched (33.1) and strikeouts (30). He was tabbed Pitcher of the Week Honors after a commanding performance against FIU last weekend.
The "true" weekend crew of Jake Meiers and Jeremy Strewn had their moments, but still gave up a combined nine runs in seven innings. Coach McCormack would like to see more consistency from the duo.
"We are looking for them to get us to the 6 or 7th inning with a chance to win the game" McCormack said. "They have to continue to throw strikes and keep the hitters off balance."
FAU checks in at 3.22 ERA overall, which is tops in the league, and 56th amongst all DI programs.
Arkansas State went 4-1 over the past week, splitting a midweek pair of contests with Missouri State (2-6, 7-5) before taking control against in-state and conference rival Arkansas-Little Rock (6-3, 9-7, 7-5) in the league opener for both teams.
The weekend series with UALR was not without some eventful happenings, as ASU turned a triple play in Friday night's contest, used a six run rally over the final two innings to win on Saturday, and concluded their 12th straight win and fourth straight sweep over the Trojans on Sunday.
At the plate, Collin Massanelli became just the third player in ASU baseball history to hit 3-home runs in a game during Friday's contest as well. He was 9-of-14 with three home runs, six runs scored and eight RBIs overall against UALR.
Preseason All Sun Belt selection Logan Uxa leads the way for the team with a .346 batting average, and Ryan Emery has gotten aboard via a walk 25 times, which is nine more than the next closest SBC player, who is team mate Claude Johnson (16).
On the hill, John Koch returned to his a role as the team’s closer and picked up saves in all three games. Koch now has 18 saves in his career and is the all-time career leader in saves at ASU. The Red Wolves are 2nd in the SBC in team ERA at 3.46 with weekend starters Chandler Hawkins (1.80 ERA) and Bradley Wallace (2.38 ERA) each being undefeated.
ASU is solid defensively, enjoying a .979 team fielding percentage (2nd SBC), and are 3-3 all-time against FAU in Jonesboro.
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VIP DONOR
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Re: Series Thread: FAU @ Arkansas State - March 22-24, 2013
Posted
Administrator
Member since 2006
Re: Series Thread: FAU @ Arkansas State - March 22-24, 2013
Local said
ASU has a very good athletic department.
Former FAU Assoc AD terry Mohajir is the AD out there now…
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Re: Series Thread: FAU @ Arkansas State - March 22-24, 2013
Series Thread: FAU @ Arkansas State - March 22-24, 2013
The snow is coming down here in Jonesboro twitter.com/FAUCoachMac/st…
— J. McCormack (@FAUCoachMac) March 22, 2013
Posted
Administrator
Member since 2006
Re: Series Thread: FAU @ Arkansas State - March 22-24, 2013
Last year weather cancelled two games, and this year ain't looking much better really:
Source: weather.com
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Member since 2006
Re: Series Thread: FAU @ Arkansas State - March 22-24, 2013
Literally.
This is what the field looks like in Jonesboro, stay tuned for updates twitter.com/FAUCoachMac/st…
— J. McCormack (@FAUCoachMac) March 22, 2013
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Re: Series Thread: FAU @ Arkansas State - March 22-24, 2013
Posted
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Member since 2006
Re: Series Thread: FAU @ Arkansas State - March 22-24, 2013
Game cancelled due snow on the field, we did build one snowman. DH tomorrow at 11am twitter.com/FAUCoachMac/st…
— J. McCormack (@FAUCoachMac) March 22, 2013
Posted
Administrator
Member since 2006
Re: Series Thread: FAU @ Arkansas State - March 22-24, 2013
???
Posted
Administrator
Member since 2006
Re: Series Thread: FAU @ Arkansas State - March 22-24, 2013
Looks like the forecast today is good until about 3:00 PM…but there is some more rain on the way.
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