Baseball Falls in C-USA Finale at Florida Atlantic

Sunday, May 16

Boca Raton, Fla.

11 a.m. (CT)

Southern Miss

35-17, 22-9

Florida Atlantic

29-23, 18-14

Southern Miss

Florida Atlantic

Baseball Falls in C-USA Finale at Florida Atlantic

5/16/2021 3:18:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

BOCA RATON, Fla. – Florida Atlantic recorded five-straight hits to start the seventh and scored six times in the inning to erase a four-run deficit in upending No. 17 Southern Miss 9-6 Sunday afternoon at the FAU Baseball Stadium.

The Golden Eagles fell to 35-17 overall and finished Conference USA play with a 22-9 record. The squad will be the either the No. 2 or No. 3 seed in the league's tournament set for May 26-30 in Ruston, La., depending on the outcome of Louisiana Tech's contest against UTSA.

Southern Miss led 5-1 in the top of the seventh after Danny Lynch walked in a run with the bases loaded with two outs before play was halted due to a rain delay. Play finally resumed after a 41-minute delay and Dane Visconti came in to pitch for the Owls and got Will McGillis to strikeout on three pitches.

That opened the door for the Owls who opened the bottom of the frame with a Jackson Wenstrom home run, his sixth of the year. The Owls went on to collect five more consecutive hits and then a walk before registering an out.

FAU, which posted 14 hits, got seven in that frame off of three Golden Eagle pitchers. Blake Wehunt, the second pitcher of the frame, took the loss as he allowed three runs on three hits without registering an out to fall to 1-2.

The Owls added two more runs on a two-run single by Bobby Morgensen to extend their lead. Charlie Fischer closed the gap with a solo shot in the ninth to right-center, his seventh of the year.
Southern Miss jumped out in front with a solo run in the second. After a leadoff walk to Reece Ewing, Will McGillis followed two batters with a triple off the left-centerfield wall.

The Golden Eagles added three more runs in the third. Gabe Montenegro started the frame with a walk and Reed Trimble then followed with a shot over the rightfield wall for his 14th home run of the season. A one-out walk to Christopher Sargent was followed by a triple to left by Danny Lynch to make the score 4-0.

The Owls (29-23, 18-14) originally cut into the visitors' advantage with a solo home run off of Drew Boyd to start the fourth, his 11th of the season.

Boyd gave the Golden Eagles six solid innings, allowing just that one run on six hits with eight strikeouts and no walks despite not figuring in the decision.

Visconti threw the final 2 1/3 innings for the Owls to earn the victory and improve to 4-2 limiting the Golden Eagles to a run on a hit with three strikeouts.

The Golden Eagles next play in the opening round of the C-USA Baseball Tournament in Ruston, La., Wednesday, May 26.