MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - University of South Alabama baseball scored five unanswered runs in the final two innings and had the tying run at third in the bottom of the ninth inning, but fell to top-seeded Florida Atlantic 10-9 in the second round of the Sun Belt Conference Championship Thursday at Reese Smith Jr. Field.
Trailing 10-4 heading into the bottom of the eighth, the Jags scored two runs in the inning to cut the FAU lead to 10-6 after loading the bases with no outs. Brad Hook led off the inning with a single to left field, and later scored on a fielder's choice off the bat of Zach Grichor. Tyler Vick singled behind Hook, and later scored on a ground out of the bat of Jake Overstreet.
USA trailed by four runs in its last at-bat and loaded the bases with no outs for the second consecutive inning. Taylor White led off the ninth inning with a single, and Nolan Earley reached base on a hit by pitch, before Hook singled to score White from second and cut the FAU lead to 10-7. Vick was then hit by a pitch to load the bases. Adam Heisler followed with a fielder's choice to third which scored Earley from third. Grichor singled through the right side to load the bases for the second time in the inning before Overstreet delivered a sacrifice fly to right field to score pinch-runner Nathaniel Lami. Heisler moved to third on Overstreet's sac fly, but was stranded as the game ended.
FAU right-hander Mike Gipson (8-1) earned the win in six innings, allowing four runs on six hits while striking out six and walking three.
USA left-hander Lance Baxter (6-3) suffered the loss in 3.1 innings, allowing eight runs on seven hits, and struck out six with three walks.
Sean Bukovich went 3-for-5 with a double, one RBI and a run scored, and Raymond Church went 2-for-5 with a home run, two RBI, two runs scored and a stolen base to lead the Owls at the plate.
Hook went 3-for-4 with a home run, three RBI and two runs scored to lead USA at the plate. Overstreet went 3-for-5 with a double, two RBI and a run scored, and White went 2-for-3 with two runs scored. Heisler finished 1-for-3 with a home run, two RBI, one run and two stolen bases.
Church gave the Owls a 1-0 lead when he led off the game with a solo home run to left field, but Heisler answered with his own solo home run over the right field wall to tie the game 1-1 in the bottom of the first. Overstreet doubled later in the inning and scored when Brent Tanner reached on an error by Church.
FAU (35-20) took a 4-2 lead in the top of the third inning on a two-run double to center field by Scheffler and RBI single to left field by Cassidy, and increased its lead to 9-2 in the top of the fourth with four runs on four hits, aided by an RBI double by Andy Mee and an RBI single by Mike Albaladejo.
The Jags sent 15 batters to the plate in the final two innings as part of their five unaswered runs.
USA (32-26) will return to action Friday in the Sun Belt Conference Championship in an elimination game against Florida International at 9 a.m. With a win, the Jags would face FAU at 4 p.m. Friday afternoon.
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).
- USA -
NOTES: USA fell to 4-9 all-time against FAU, and 0-1 all-time against the Owls in the Sun Belt Conference Championship ... The Owls have now won seven of the last nine games against the Jaguars ... Grichor extended his errorless streak to 43 games.
