SERIES THREAD: FAU @ Florida International - May 16-18, 2013
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What: Florida Atlantic (32-20,16-11) at Florida International (25-27, 13-14)
When: Thu, May 16 at 6:00 p.m.
Fri, May 17 at 6:00 p.m.
Sat, May 18 at 1:00 p.m.
Where: FIU Baseball Stadium
Audio: Here
Stats: Here
Series: The Owls lead 49-44 all time versus the Panthers.
Projected Starting Pitchers:
Thu: FAU - LHP Austin Gomber (5-4, 3.04 ERA)
FIU - LHP Tyler Alexander (4-6, 4.46 ERA)
Fri: FAU - RHP Jeremy Strawn (4-2, 3.44 ERA)
FIU - RHP Mike Franco (5-4, 5.11 ERA)
Sat: FAU - TBA
FIU - RHP Alex Seibold (3-5, 4.13 ERA)
As the call went out to finish strong, the Owls have responded. Winners of four straight, and the last 5-of-8, the team polished off Central Florida 4-3 on Tuesday night to complete a regular season sweep of the neighbors to the north.
The Owls retook the lead in SBC team pitching with the recent performances, and now stand once again in the top spot at 3.83 overall. That's almost a quarter run better than South Alabama, who sits second with a 4.06 overall ERA.
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Bo Logan (photo above) had his best outing on the season in mid relief Tuesday, tossing 50 pitches over 3.2 innings, and striking out a career high six batters. He could see time again this weekend at a point from Friday forward, as his pitch count was second longest of the season behind a 54 ball effort against Troy back in April.
Also on the mound, FAU has a national story in the making in that of Hugh Adams. The Maryland native registered his 27th career save last night, and is now just one shy of tying the all-time Sun Belt record of 28 set in that area by former USF pitcher Bob Undorf. Safe to assume the mark will tumble when it is all said and done.
Offensively, after being out for a spell, Brendon Sanger made his way back into the top 15 conference hitters. He's raised his production to a healthy mark of .344 to lead the Owls, and also has a team best 38 runs scored. Center fielder Nathan Pittman is getting aboard at a stealth .447 clip, placing him 7th in the conference.
Although being out scored 17-13 in the final run tally, FAU came away with a 2-1 series victory against FIU (6-0, 6-5, 1-12) back in March in Boca Raton. Austin Gomber tossed 7.1 innings while allowing eight hits, as Florida Atlantic shut out FIU in game one to kick things off.
But the remaining games will need to stay in favor of the visitors. Head Coach John McCormack (below) sees 34 wins as the pivot point for post season consideration heading into the Sun Belt Tournament without a victory therein. If he's right, one loss won't kill the chances, as FAU is also gracing the projection sites once again ahead of the weekend's action.
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As far as the competition goes, FIU is coming off a winning weekend after taking two of three games from Arkansas-Little Rock.
Junior Tyler Alexander started things off on Friday with a 13 strikeout performance to notch his fourth victory of the season and offensive leader Aramis Garcia drove in a career-best five runs with two doubles.
Most importantly, the win snapped an alarming nine game skid dating back to an April 27th match-up against ULL.
The Trojans would take the second game of the series 1-0 on Saturday in a pitcher's duel before the Panthers earned a 7-1 Sunday victory to clinch the series. Garcia (49 RBI, 4th SBC) went 2-for-4 with a homer, double and three runs driven in for the finale and 3B Josh Anderson added two doubles and two RBI.
Like the Owls, the Panthers had trouble with Troy the weekend prior, going down in sweeping fashion (5-11, 3-14, 1-3).
Florida International has a current mark of 19-15 at home on the season, while the Owls are 12-8 away from FAU Baseball Stadium. Friday's contest has been moved up to a 6:00 PM start.
Re: SERIES THREAD: FAU @ Florida International - May 16-18, 2013
Re: SERIES THREAD: FAU @ Florida International - May 16-18, 2013
Owls at FIU tonight for Game I of the regular season series finale. Mid 1st: FAU sees a Nelson walk sandwiched between 2K's and a fly out.
— The Owl's Nest (@TheOwlsNest_ITB) May 16, 2013
Re: SERIES THREAD: FAU @ Florida International - May 16-18, 2013
End 1st: Almost a carbon copy by FAU's Gomber. He fans two Panthers, and issues a walk as well. No score after one.
— The Owl's Nest (@TheOwlsNest_ITB) May 16, 2013
Re: SERIES THREAD: FAU @ Florida International - May 16-18, 2013
Top 2nd: In what is becoming a theme as of late, Owls score first as Sanger makes his way around after a lead-off single.
— The Owl's Nest (@TheOwlsNest_ITB) May 16, 2013
Re: SERIES THREAD: FAU @ Florida International - May 16-18, 2013
Top 2nd: FIU issues third walk of the inning to load the bags for Meyers.
— The Owl's Nest (@TheOwlsNest_ITB) May 16, 2013
Re: SERIES THREAD: FAU @ Florida International - May 16-18, 2013
Mid 2nd: Meyer comes through with a RBI single that plates Keller to give the Owls a two score advantage. https://twitter.com/search/%23FAU 2 https://twitter.com/search/%23FIU 0.
— The Owl's Nest (@TheOwlsNest_ITB) May 16, 2013
Re: SERIES THREAD: FAU @ Florida International - May 16-18, 2013
End 2nd: A 6-4-3 double play and fly makes quick work of the Panthers.
— The Owl's Nest (@TheOwlsNest_ITB) May 16, 2013
Re: SERIES THREAD: FAU @ Florida International - May 16-18, 2013
Mid 3rd: Another walk from FIU's Alexander (5th), but he takes advantage of a double play as well.
— The Owl's Nest (@TheOwlsNest_ITB) May 16, 2013
Re: SERIES THREAD: FAU @ Florida International - May 16-18, 2013
SERIES THREAD: FAU @ Florida International - May 16-18, 2013
End 3rd: Gomber on pace to match his stellar performance against the Panthers earlier in the season. 1-2-3 and down they go. https://twitter.com/search/%23FAU 2 https://twitter.com/search/%23FIU 0.
— The Owl's Nest (@TheOwlsNest_ITB) May 16, 2013
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