Owls Not Dead Yet in Lafayette

After getting smushed in their opening game of the Sun Belt tourney, the baseballin' Owls rebounded to win two games: 12-7 over Middle Tennessee and 4-2 over #1 seed Louisiana Monroe.

The Owls now need to beat Western Kentucky (the team that beat them 9-0 in Wednesday's opener) twice today to advance to the championship game. Not easy. Not impossible either.

Senior catcher Alex Silversmith has been the offensive hero in the two wins. He has hit a big homer in each after not displaying much power prior to this in his FAU career - he hit just nine homers in four years.

Besides FAU and WKU, New Orleans and homestanding ULL remain in the hunt. Bracketologize here.

Owls Try to Top WKU This Weekend

Sorry to steal the top spot from ASponge. Grading the Marlins is my favorite South Florida Fan feature. However, I need to relay some information to the growing number of Owls supporters that frequent this blog.

This weekend it's the FAU Owls and the WKU Hilltoppers in a Sun Belt series between two pretty evenly matched teams. FAU is in 3rd place and WKU is in 4th. ULM is running away with the leauge at 17-4 but the Owls and Tops are within striking distance of 2nd place Troy (12-6).

The Owls are 10-6 SBC, 23-16 overall
The Tops are 10-8 SBC, 23-17 overall

Tonight's pitching matchup is the Owls' embattled ace Mickey Storey (2-4, 6.80 ERA) against WKU lefthander Bart Carter (4-3, 5.79 ERA).

From the looks of the numbers on the offensive side for both teams and the high ERAs of both pitches, we could be in for another loooooooooooong one at FAU Stadium.

None of what you read was the important part ... this is: ON THE RADIO (well, computer): Steve Bishop and Jay Warman will have the call on fausports.com.

Yep, you read that right. I will be the color man on tonight's broadcast at 6:30. I have hardly any experience but figured I'd give it a try. How hard could it be? I'll probably regret those words.

A Strange Thursday in Boca

Some things to tell you:

1st: Tonight the FAU athletics people had a schmooze fest for the Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce at the site of the new football stadium. It was preceded by the football team's final spring scrimmage. After scrimmaging behind the Oxley Center, the team headed to the site of the stadium and held a bonfire and pep rally.

2nd: Brooke Hogan. Yes THAT Brooke Hogan, was at the scrimmage and the bonfire. Apparently she is considering attending FAU. I say let her in if the Hulk wants to make a nice donation towards the new stadium. Howard Schnellenberger Field at Hulk Hogan Stadium anyone? And we would always have someone good to sing the national anthem.

3rd: There was a press conference today at 3:30 and FAU baseball coach Kevin Cooney announced his retirement after 21 years on the job. He coached future big leaugers. He coached in regionals. He coached the Owls to a super regional, just one step away from the College World Series. He brought FAU baseball into Division I. He had a winning record in 18 of 20 seasons. This season will make 19 out of 21.

Associate Head Coach John McCormack is expected to succeed Cooney. Mac has been with the Blue Wave/Owls for 18 years.

Sigh of Relief from Hurricane Baseball Nation

Jay had a nice recap below of what transpired in Boca Raton last night, but I want to let out an enormous sigh of relief on behalf of Hurricanes Baseball fans everywhere on account of the cardiac special served up by UM and FAU, as UM snatched victory from the jaws of defeat and vanquished the Owls, 12-10. FAU was actually in control for the most of the game (up 10-3 in the 5th inning) and it took a frantic comeback in the 9th with two outs and Miami down 10-9. UM wins the season series 2-1 (to say "barely" would be a monumental understatement).

My hat is off to FAU - fabulous hitters all and a gutsy group of players that embrace rather than shrink from the challenge of taking on the number #1 team in the land and punching them in the mouth. Fortunately, however, the Canes aren't much into shrinking from challenges either. The quality experience in the clutch from Jemile Weeks and Yonder Alonso were the difference in this game, and the reason that the Canes are 31-3 and blowing into Tallahassee with renewed fervor and confidence for an must-watch series with #2 FSU. It is games like last night's which test a team's character, and it cannot be said that Miami's character is wanting, and this baptism by fire courtesy of Florida Atlantic will prove to be invaluable heading into the postseason.

Alonso's Big Blast Beats FAU

Boca Raton -- As Yonder Alonso’s towering ninth inning homer sailed up and out of FAU Stadium, so did the Owls’ hopes of defeating top-ranked Miami for the second time in as many games.

The Hurricanes beat the Owls 12-10 in the deciding game of a three game series in front of an FAU near-record crowd of 2,348. After splitting the first two games in Coral Gables, Miami came back from a 10-3 deficit to beat FAU in Boca Raton.

“Pretty good game,” said FAU coach Kevin Cooney. “We were up by a bunch and couldn’t finish it off. A great relief pitcher got bitten.”

Freshman closer Glen Troyanowski entered with one out in the eighth inning to try to protect a 10-7 FAU lead. He escaped the eighth with the Owls lead at 10-9, but after recording two easy outs in the ninth, Jemile Weeks singled and Troyanowski fell behind the Hurricanes’ first baseman. He served up a 2-0 fastball and Alonso deposited it over the batting cages and into the forest behind the right field fence.

“I just got a good pitch,” said Alonso, who let the FAU fans seated along the right field line know that it was time to quiet down by bringing his finger to his lips as he rounded first base. As Alonso approached home plate he was engulfed in a celebratory mob of teammates.

“This time it was their day,” Cooney said.

The Owls let an early lead and a gutsy pitching performance by starter Adam Morrison go to waste. Morrison struck out four and gave up seven runs in five innings of work. But the Owls played some shoddy defense behind him and four relievers.

After a two out walk to Weeks in the fifth, Alonso hit a high pop into shallow left-center field. Four Owls converged on the ball but none caught it, as it plopped harmlessly onto the outfield grass.

In the eighth inning third baseman Troy Bubley, inserted for defensive purposes, had a routine ground ball get stuck in his jersey. The freakish error led to two Hurricanes runs, setting the stage for Alonso’s ninth inning blast.

“[Troyanowski] was one pitch from being the hero and now he’s the goat,” Cooney said.

The Owls got off to a torrid offensive start to open up a big lead against Miami starter Michael Rudman. FAU scored multiple runs in each of the first four innings. Shortstop Nick Arata was one of FAU’s offensive stars. He had three hits, including a two-run homerun, and scored three times. Catcher Alex Silversmith went 4-for-5 with an RBI.

The near-record crowd filled the stands behind home plate and the grassy berms along the baselines. There was believed to have been a bigger crowd when Miami visited FAU in 2001, but FAU didn’t start keeping official attendance figures until 2003.

The Hurricanes improved to 31-3 with the win as the Owls fell to 21-13. This weekend the Owls travel to New York for a four game series against New York Tech.

FAU Takes Down #1 Miami!

Owls 6, Hurricanes 3

In baseball, anything can happen. Last night it did. Starting pitcher Mike Obradovich shut down the Miami offense and William Block of Nova High hit two jacks for the Owls.

With the win the Owls inched closer in the all-time series. It's now 21-4 Miami. We're getting better.

The Owls and Hurricanes are now an even 1-1 this year with the rubber game coming up next Wednesday night in Boca Raton.

I know that some of the loyal readers and contributors to The South Florida Fan are Palm Beach County residents as well as big baseball fans ... So I hope to see you at FAU Stadium (kind of a grand name for a 500 plastic seats and 2 berms) on Wednesday night at 6:30 for Owls-'Canes III.

Owls Set to Face #1 Miami Tonight

Each season the FAU baseball team affords itself the opportunity to knock off some of the top teams in the country. The problem is that the Owls hardly ever do so.

This season the Owls (formerly known as the Blue Wave before a university-wide branding effort in 2005 that mandated that all teams become the "Owls") have been swept in a season-opening series by #4 North Carolina and lost 16-7 to Miami last week.

The Owls (18-11, 8-5 Sun Belt) are a pretty good team with a high-powered offense, led by right fielder Mike McKenna. A major hurdle that FAU never seems to be able to clear is obtaining shut-down pitching. High-powered arms are hard to come by at the Major League level, let alone the second tier of Division I college baseball. The best pitchers that don't go pro out of high school end up at places like UNC, Miami and Florida State. The Owls are left with high school all stars, like Mickey Storey of Deerfield Beach, that can survive in the Sun Belt Conference, but usually get bombed by some of the better teams.

To compound the issue, FAU saves its best starting pitching for weekend conference matchups.

The results? Not pretty. In 24 all-time games between the teams since FAU baseball turned D-I in 1994, Miami leads the series 21-3.

Hopefully the Owls can reverse the trend for once at Alex Rodriguez Whatever They Call it at Mark Light Stadium in Coral Gables at 7 p.m. The Hurricanes are ranked #1 for the first time since 2004.