Baseball Series Thread: FAU vs Oregon - March 2nd - 5th, 2018



What:      FAU (7-1) at Oregon (5-2)

When:      Fri, Mar 2nd at 9:00 PM
                Sat, Mar 3rd at 5:00 PM
                Sun, Mar 4th at 5:00 PM
                Mon, Mar 5th at 9:00 PM


Where:    PK Park

Audio:   Here

Stats:       Here


Series

First meeting between the two teams.


Projected Starting Pitchers

Fri:        FAU - LHP Jake Miednik (2-0, 0.68)
             ORE - RHP Matt Mercer (1-1, 2.19)

Sat:       FAU - RHP Kyle Marmon (2-0, 0.71)
             ORE - LHP Cole Stringer (0-1, 4.66)

Sun:      FAU - RHP Vince Coletti (0-0, 3.60)
             ORE - RHP James Acuna (0-0, 5.40)

Mon:      FAU - TBA
             ORE - TBA



Game Notes

Owls

Florida Atlantic will travel the longest distance in program history for the first of four games against the Ducks.

FAU secured their fourth consecutive victory on Wednesday night, topping Miami, 5-4. The win marks the third time in Head Coach John McCormack’s tenure atop the program that the Owls have won seven of their first eight games, matching 2009 and 2016 as the best starts in a season over this last decade.

Pedro Pages and Tyler Frank each had two hits, extending their individual streaks to five and three multi-hit games, respectively. Pages leads the squad with a .375 batting average.

The backend of the bullpen starred against the Hurricanes, with Drew Peden improving to 3-0 on the year and closer Zach Schneider picked up save number four. Collectively, the Owls  have a 2.15 ERA (19th NCAA).


Ducks

Oregon picked up a series win over Loyola Marymount last weekend rallying to win the Saturday and Sunday games after losing on Friday. Rallied is the key word as Oregon trailed heading into the late innings of both games.

JR RHP Parker Kelly picked up both of Oregon's wins in the series allowing no runs on one hit in three innings pitched. His three wins one the season is tied for best in the country at present. Oregon's pitching staff finished the series with a 2.52 ERA.

Oregon returns a wealth of experience, particularly in the infield, heading into week three of the season. Six different infielders have combined to start 311 games during their careers at Oregon.

I feel for the guys in this series.  It's going to be miserable baseball weather up there this weekend.  Metal bats and hard thrown palm catches sting like a mother$#@% in 40 degrees especially if ur not used to it.  I wonder if we even equip our baseball team with jackets for cold weather. Lol.  

Jake Miednik was once again masterful at times, but the Ducks cashed in on his two wild pitches to come away with a 2-1 win in game one.

Oregon denied the Owls (7-2) the tying run in each of the last two innings.

“I thought it was a fantastic baseball game,” said Head Coach John McCormack. "Offensively, we’re not quite where we need to be, but we’ll get there. We’ll be back at it tomorrow and go from there.”

Already leading 1-0, the Ducks (6-2) added a much-needed second run with two outs in the bottom of the seventh on a wild pitch. That proved necessary when in the next half-inning, Cody Wilson singled, and came all the way around on an RBI double to left-center by Andru Summerall.

He would go to third on a sacrifice bunt, and Tyler Frank was hit by a pitch and stole second, but UO’s reliever Parker Kelly retired the next two batters to preserve the one-run lead.

Miednik finished out the eighth inning by striking out Ryne Nelson, also with runners at second and third, to keep it at 2-1.

Down to their last out in the top of the ninth, two Owls’ hitters, Gunnar Lambert and Wilson, walked. With pinch-runner Richie Nizza representing the tying run at second, Oregon second baseman Kyle Kasser ranged deep in the hole towards first to field a grounder off the bat of Summerall and throw him out to save the game.

The Owls and Ducks face off for game two of the four-game set Saturday at 5:00 PM.

"Jake Miednik was once again masterful at times, but the Ducks cashed in on his two wild pitches to come away with a 2-0 win in game one."

Correct score was 2-1 Oregon.

Pitching was good enough as usuall we should have taken the game last night.  However this team still hasn't been able to touch decent to good pitching yet this year.  2 hits going into the 7th will never win you any games.  Stinks because if this team could consistently put up runs this would be a possible super regional team with the pitching we have this year.  

Why the hell do we not play small ball at all. We get lead off batter on in the 1st with a walk with Rivera at the plate and we get caught stealing.  Just bunt and advance the runner, pressure the pitcher early with a runner in scoring position.  We can't hit right now, gotta start facing the facts.  Good grief turned the stream off for 2 mins in top of 2nd and we've already gone 3 up 3 down.

That's kinda what I thought we would end up doing at some point…I believe he is still holding onto hope that a couple guys will start playing better before having to go there.

Fyi For everyone,  seems to be a free video stream on the oregon baseball website.  Awesome quality and production as well.  

Man it looks miserable there right now.  40 degrees with a mist.  Coming from south fla weather it's hard just to stand around out there.  Lol.  Guys gotta be hating it right now

FAU evens series with Ducks at 1-1 behind 5-0 SHUTOUT in G2

OWLS WIN! #FAU evens series with Ducks at 1-1 behind 5-0 SHUTOUT in G2! Summerall 2RBI 2B. Frank 2-3, HR. Abraham, Wilson RBI ea. WP Marman 7IP 8H 11K 🔥. Save Nowatnick. Next vs Oregon Sun 5P. #GoOwls! 👌 pic.twitter.com/qKUYokPD7W

— FAU Owl's Nest (@FAU_Owls_Nest) March 4, 2018

On his 21st birthday, Kyle Marman celebrated in style by throwing seven shutout innings and striking out 11 Oregon Ducks, combining with reliever Mark Nowatnick to even up the road series with a 5-0 win.

“That is some performance on your 21st birthday,” said Head Coach John McCormack of Marman. “He did a really nice job and then the offense did what it needed to do…the series is tied, and we’re in it to win it.”

Through 3 1/3 innings, Oregon (6-3) starter Cole Stringer had allowed only one FAU (8-2) hit in a scoreless game. But after walking David Miranda and Pedro Pages, the wheels fell off, with four consecutive Owl hits scoring four runs. Cody Wilson singled in Miranda, Joe Montes singled to load the bases, and Andru Summerall plated two with a double down the rightfield line. Kevin Abraham ended the scoring with an RBI single off reliever Hunter Breault for a 4-0 lead.

Marman notched two strikeouts in the fifth, stranding two, left two more on in the sixth, and struck out the side in a 1-2-3 seventh. He scattered eight hits, walking just one batter and striking out 11 total Ducks. The Owls’ last run came in the eighth courtesy of the first home run of the season by Tyler Frank, and to close it out, Nowatnick faced just one batter over the minimum in two scoreless innings for the team’s second shutout of the year.

UPDATED SCHEDULE: 2018 FAU Baseball Schedule - FAU Owl's Nest