What : FAU (7-6) vs. Harvard (1-7) When : Fri, March 10th @ 6:30 PM Sat, March 11th @ 4:00 PM Sun, March 12th @ 12:00 PM Mon, March 13th @ 6:30 PM Where : FAU Baseball Stadium Video : C-USA TV Live Stats : Here Harvard Team Site : Here Series : Owls lead 7-0 Projected Starting Pitchers : Harvard – RHP Jay Driver (0-0, 5.79 ERA) FAU – LHP Hunter Cooley (1-2, 3.44 ERA) Harvard – RHP Chris Clark (0-0, 6.00 ERA) FAU – RHP Jacob Josey (1-1, 1.76 ERA) Harvard – RHP Will Jacobsen (0-1, 11.05 ERA) FAU – RHP Tyler Murphy (0-0, 0.00 ERA) Harvard – RHP Sean Matson (0-2, 14.73 ERA) FAU – LHP Evan Waterbor (1-0, 6.23 ERA) Owl Notables FAU currently finds themselves in a rut. After getting swept at home last weekend against UCONN in a three-game series, the Owls went to Gainesville to take on the #6 Florida Gators. While they were competitive with their bats in an 18-11 loss in game one Tuesday night, they failed to score a single run for the first time this season in an 11-0 defeat the next day that ended with a walk-off grand slam from the Gators. Despite the Owls’ struggles, junior outfielder Nolan Schanuel (pictured) has continued to shine especially against strong competition. He fired away three home runs in Tuesday’s contest against Florida, tying with 5 other FAU players for the most homers in a game in program history. Schanuel leads the team with a .426 batting average, 1.514 OPS, 20 hits, 19 RBI, and six home runs. He is also tied for 23rd in the country with his home runs. Jackson Ross is another player who did well against Florida. The senior infielder managed to get a home run in the 9th inning while going 4-5 in his at-bats Tuesday night, and mustered up one of FAU’s two hits in Wednesday’s duel. He is second behind Schanuel in batting average (.358), OPS (1.171), hits (19), and home runs (5). There is one big change to the Owls’ pitching rotation. Tyler Murphy, who started in Wednesday’s matchup and stood his ground against the Gators’ batting unit by getting two strikeouts and only allowing one hit after two innings, will be on the mound for Sunday’s contest against Harvard. It will be a great opportunity for the freshman to take advantage of, taking over what was Nicholas Del Prado’s starting slot who could instead be in the mix for Wednesday’s one-off against Bradley. FAU is handling a punch to their depth at center field. Spencer Rich, who hasn’t appeared since Feb. 28 against Miami, is out with an arm injury and is expected to return in early-April. The starters (in non-batting order) for game one should be that of the below: RF Jake Millan CF Jalen DeBose LF Dylan Goldstein 1B Nolan Schanuel 2B Christian Adams 3B Jackson Ross DH Mitchell Hartigan SS Armando Albert C Caleb Pendleton P Hunter Cooley Crimson Notables Record-wise, Harvard could be the easiest opponent FAU is facing on their schedule. Performance-speaking, the Crimson squad should not be underestimated. Harvard got swept in a four-game series at FIU in which they were competitive in all but one game. Three of the contests were all decided by one run that went in favor of the Panthers. While they don’t have anyone hitting over .400, the Crimson have a better average (.283) than FAU’s .281. Infielder George Cooper, who went 9-18 with his at-bats against FIU, leads the team batting .375 with 12 hits, while infielder Chris Snopek tops their charts in OPS (1.135) and home runs (2). FAU should do everything they can to exploit the weaknesses in Harvard’s bullpen. They have an overall ERA of 9.48, which puts them among the worst 30 teams in the nation for that category. With two of the starting pitchers having an ERA over 10, one could believe the Owls will have a field day swinging their bats at the plate. After this four-game affair, Harvard continues on with their road trip heading to Corpus Christi to take on Texas A&M-Corpus Christi for four contests.
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