FAU Eliminates Bonnies From Coral Gables Regional, 14-2
June 5, 2004
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (hurricanesports.com) – Florida Atlantic first baseman Rusty Brown homered twice and drove in six runs to lead the Blue Wave to a 14-2 win over St. Bonaventure in Game 3 of the Coral Gables Regional.
With the victory FAU advances to Saturday’s 7 p.m. game versus the loser of the Miami-North Carolina State game at 3:30 p.m. St. Bonaventure is eliminated from the Coral Gables Regional.
Senior right-hander Matt O’Brien (11-3) went 5.0 innings allowing one unearned runs on four hits to earn the win. St. Bonaventure starter Michael Proctor (5-3) took the loss allowing seven runs on six hits over two innings.
Florida Atlantic jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning when first Brown homered to left off Proctor driving in Jeff Fiorentino and Tim Mascia.
Brown went yard for the second time of the day in the second inning, a two-run blast, to cap a four run inning as FAU extended the lead to 7-0. Brown went 3-6 for the game with two homeruns, a double and sixThe Blue Wave continued the onslaught putting three more runs across in the top of the third. Senior catcher Robert Orton drove in two of the three runs with his first career triple. Orton finished 3-4 on the day and drove in a season-high three runs.
Left fielder Dan Bratys led St. Bonaventure offensively finishing 2-3 with an RBI.
Game Notes
Florida Atlantic improves to 46-16 on the season and will play at 7 p.m. versus the loser of the Miami-North Carolina State game.St. Bonaventure ends the season with a 29-22 record.Florida Atlantic first baseman Rusty Brown recorded two homeruns on the day, his sixth and seventh homeruns of the season. It marks his second multi-homerun game of the season and his second in the last three games. Brown has hit five homeruns in his last four games.Brown’s six RBI gives him 179 for his career moving him into second on FAU’s career list…Brown’s double in the eighth inning was the 49th of his career moving him into a tie for first on FAU’s career list.Brown’s first inning homerun marks the 15 consecutive game in which the Blue Wave has recorded at least one homerun. The last game in which FAU did not record a homerun was May 7 against Troy State, a 6-5 win.FAU senior catcher Robert Orton recorded his first career triple in the third inning. Orton tied his season-high with three RBI.FAU freshman third baseman Robbie Widlansky recorded his seventh double of the season in the fourth inning…St. Bonaventure designated hitter Joe Rizzo registered his fifth double of the season in the fifth inning.FAU junior right hander Bobby DeMichael pitched 4.0 innings marking the longest outing of his career. DeMichael was credited with his first save of the season.
Quotes
Florida Atlantic Head Coach Kevin Cooney:
“Rusty (Brown) provided us with early runs, which was key for us in an elimination game.”
“I was real concerned about us coming out flat, but we got off to a good start, got early runs, and went from there.”
First Baseman Rusty Brown:
“This (the rest between games) is to our benefit. Just have to rest up, come back, and play hard.”
Starting Pitcher Matt O’Brien:
“I looked to throw strikes, keep the defense off the field, and looked to our offense to score runs.”
St. Bonaventure Head Coach Larry Sudbrook
“After playing four very nice baseball games in our Atlantic 10 Conference (tournament) – winning four one-run games as an underdog and playing, I thought, very well against a team that was more athletic – I’m disappointed that we go home on a day like this because I thought our pitching didn’t give us an opportunity.”
“We’re disappointed in having to go out this way after four games in the tournament and the game last night against Miami.”
On FAU’s Rusty Brown…
“Our pitcher got himself in some situations where he got himself behind in the count and had some runners on, so you couldn’t really pitch around anybody – you have to try to get somebody out in that situation and he just didn’t do it. He got the ball up early in the game. I thought the strike zone was kind of a high zone to begin the game – there really were no low pitches. That’s not a good place for a freshman pitcher to be to a hitter like that.”
