Southern Miss
Florida Atlantic
Wild Pitch Lifts FAU over Baseball in Series Opener
3/23/2018 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
BOCA RATON,, Fla. - Cody Wilson scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth to lift Florida Atlantic to a 6-5 Conference USA baseball victory over No. 15 Southern Miss Friday night at the FAU Baseball Stadium.
The Golden Eagles (15-5 overall, 2-1 C-USA) had a current win streak of seven games snapped as well as a string of 14-straight league contests broken with the loss.
The visitors recorded four home runs, the most for the program since the final game of the 2017 regular season at UTSA (5/19/17, game two), but that was not enough in the series opener.
With the game tied at 5-5 in the ninth, Wilson led off the final frame with a triple. After a pair of intentional walks, J.C. Keys threw a wild pitch to allow the game-winning run to score on a 1-0 count.
Tyler Frank, who had two home runs for FAU, led off the first with a home run to give the Owls (17-5, 3-1) the early advantage.
Luke Reynolds, who added two home runs for the Golden Eagles, then tied the game in the fourth with a solo shot of his own.
The Golden Eagles extended the advantage with a solo shot by LeeMarcus Boyd in the fifth to give Southern Miss the 2-1 lead with his second shot of the year, before Hunter Slater added his third of the year, a two-run shot to center, in the sixth.
FAU cut into the lead in the bottom half of the sixth. Nick Sandlin loaded the bases on a hit by pitch, a single and a walk before Andru Summerall hit a sacrifice fly to cut the gap to 4-2.
Sandlin left the game after six innings and allowed two runs on three hits with three walks and five strikeouts and did not figure in the decision. FAU ace Jake Miednik gave up four runs on five hits with three walks and six strikeouts over six innings.
The Owls retook the lead with a three-run homer by Frank in the seventh to give him six for the year. But it was Reynolds who tied the score again in the eighth with his second long ball of the game and sixth for the season.
Zach Schneider (2-0) gave up a single and a walk in the ninth but stranded runners at second and third to get the victory, while Keys threw the final 1/3 of a frame to suffer the loss.
The two teams continue the series with a 3 p.m., CT contest Saturday.
