FAU Baseball Meets Rice for First Time Since 2019



What: FAU (16-10, 3-3) vs. Rice (8-18, 3-3)

When: Fri, Apr 1st @ 7:30 PM
           Sat, Apr 2nd @ 3:00 PM
           Sun, Apr 3rd @ 1:30 PM           

Where: Reckling Park

Video: CUSA.tv

Live Stats:Here

Rice Team Site: Here

Series: FAU trails 13-10-1, swept the last meeting at home in 2019, and are 3-5-1 in Houston.


Projected Starting Pitchers:

FAU - LHP Hunter Cooley (3-1, 4.42 ERA)
Rice - RHP Cooper Chandler (1-4, 4.76 ERA)

FAU - RHP Tibur Rivero (3-0, 5.76 ERA)
Rice - RHP Alex DeLeon (2-1, 5.32 ERA)   

FAU - LHP Tyler Burnham (1-0, 4.61 ERA)
Rice - TBA


FAU Notables

Florida Atlantic is licking their wounds after a 13-1 loss to UCF in Orlando on Tuesday night. Once again it was a "we couldn't do anything" series of moments, with the positives being Dylan Goldstein's (photo) hot bat (3-3, HR), and middle relievers Bryan Boully and Dante Visconti each tossing solo innings with two strikeouts.


Photo Noah Goldberg

Looking to Friday's opener in Houston, it has been three years now since the last "Battle of the Owls" took place. Previous meetings have enjoyed some entertaining moments - particularly during 2017 and 2018 campaigns which featured relatively close contests. During that span 11 games were decided by a total of 31 combined runs (2.81 RPG).

In the 2022 return to play edition both team's strengths and weaknesses have changed, further setting up the element of intrigue.

Despite challenging situations presented last weekend against UTSA on Saturday (Tibur Rivero, 1IP, 2H, 3ER) and Sunday (Tyler Burnham, 3IP, 5H, 3ER), FAU was able to tap the pen and walk away with what could be a key series win down the line as conference action plays out.

Regardless, Coach McCormack has chosen to stay with his same lineup for Rice, while obviously looking realize a return to consistency on the mound. This decision could be well played against an opponent which offers relief in hitting prowess, and could help boost the confidence needed to find a rhythm.

Offensively, runs should be available for the taking, as Florida Atlantic continues to place in the upper echelon of a number of meaningful metrics.

If FAU can come away with a win on Friday night, they have a substantial shot at sweeping Rice for the second straight time.


Rice Notables

Rice opened 2022 with a 36-3 series runs scored drubbing from then #1 Texas. They rebounded with a 6-2 mid-week victory versus Houston Baptist thereafter only to see consecutive series losses to Lamar and Harvard at home.

Since then, they have collected themselves, played #15 Texas Tech close in 2-of-3 meetings, dropped a close series to UAB (-4 runs), and won a series over Marshall (+5 runs). On Wednesday night, the Houston Owls played out a close 12-10 loss to Texas A&M Corpus Christi which saw the Islanders commit four errors.

Friday night starter Cooper Chandler has two quality outings under his belt in conference play, and tossed six innings in each while only allowing two total runs (Marshall).

Third baseman Johnny Hoyle checks into the series for Rice enjoying the team's longest hitting streak of 2022 with eight games in a row under his belt, and Nathan Becker finds himself 9th in C-USA batting with a .368 average.

Rice enters the weekend with the 2nd worst overall team batting average (.253), and worst fielding percentage (.949).

End 3rd:

FAU 4  Rice 1

Boca Owls doing exactly what they need to do out of the gate in Houston, taking an early lead.

Albert, Rincones, Ross, and DeBose all with RBI as the good guys have a three run edge.

Cooley just 38 pitches through three frames, with 3H, 1ER, 28 strikes and 2K.

Top 6th:

FAU 4  Rice 3

Cooley serves up a fast ball that he wishes he had back, as Rice cashes in for a two run homer to right center that just clears the wall.

Rice will stick with Chandler (5IP, 5H, 4ER, 4BB, 6K).

Top 7th:

FAU 6  Rice 3

A shot to left by DeBose (2-3, 2RBI) is mishandled by Rice and Goldstein comes in. That is followed followed by an RBI 1B from Rincones (2-3, 2RBI) to add another pair to the tally.

Cooley sets 'em down in 1-2-3 fashion in the bottom 6th.

 

End 8th:

FAU 9  Rice 4

DeBose comes in on a Rincones ground out, and Albert also comes in on Schanuel's ground out, to add a pair of insurance runs.

Cooley stays on but Rice touches him up for a run.

Max Martzolf enters in relief for the final two outs.

Looking good for FAU 💯

FINAL:

FAU 9  RICE 4

ONE DOWN 2 to GO! FAU Baseball takes the Series Opener 9-4 over Rice!

Rincones 3RBI
DeBose 2RBI 3RS
Albert RBI 2RS
Pendleton9 RBI
Ross RBI

WP Cooley 7.1IP, 8H, 4R, 1BB, 5K -> Career High 115 Pitches

NEXT: vs Rice Sat 3PM Go Owls 🦉⚾️🧢

UPDATED SCHEDULE: HERE

In other action:

#28 or #30 (depending on the poll) ODU falls to…wait for it…

F_I_U by a score of 13-3.

Wow, never saw that coming.

Also, #23 Charlotte loses to UTSA 13-3 as well.

Lot's of 3's there.

IN THE BAG! FAU Baseball BATTLES to lock up the Series with a 6-5 G2 WIN!

Gabe Rincones 2RBI, HR
Tyler Kelder RBI
Jackson Ross 3-5, RBI

SP Tibur Rivero 3.2IP, 6H, 3R, 3BB, 5K
WP Sam Drumheller 2.2IP, 1H, 1R, 1BB, 1K
S Robert Wegielnik 2IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 2K

"Very proud of the guys. We played very good defense, timely hitting, and we were really good out of the pen for the last four innings. Good series-clinching win."  - Coach John McCormack

The Boca Owls improve to 18-10 overall and 5-3 in C-USA play.

NEXT: vs @RiceBaseball Suns 1:30P #GoOwls 🦉⚾️🧢

UPDATED SCHEDULE: HERE

HOW SWEEP IT IS! FAU Baseball (19-10, 6-3 C-USA) takes the Battle of the Owls with a 7-1 WIN in G3!

The Owls have a terrific day on the hill, shutting down Rice and taking the series in outright fashion for the second in as many times.

"Really good to sweep, really good to sweep on the road, the guys played great", said Head Coach John McCormack.

Rice scored the first run, but FAU answered in the third to tie and never looked back, adding scores in the 4th (2) and 6th (4) innings.

Jacob Josey was lights out with his best showing on the season overall.

"We needed it, Sunday's have been a little bit of a mystery at times, but Josey has stabilized it", said McCormack. "He was fantastic."

Summary:

Nolan Schanuel 2RBI 1B
Gabe Rincones 2RBI
Caleb Pendleton HR
Steven Loden RBI

SP Tyler Burnham 4IP 2H 1R 3BB 2K
WP Jacob Josey 5IP, 2H 0R 1BB 8K 🔥

NEXT: Revenge vs UCF Tues @ 6:30 PM at FAU Baseball Stadium Go Owls 🦉⚾️🧢

UPDATED SCHEDULE: HERE