Feb. 16, 2007

Final Stats

Florida Atlantic University used a 13 hit effort to defeat Ball State University 8-3 Friday night at a chilly FAU Stadium. The Owls strung together a double and two home runs in the third inning to start the scoring and give Ball State a loss in its first game of the year at the FAU Beach Ball Bash.

The Cardinals came out and took an early 2-0 lead off of FAU starter Brandon Cooney. The team posted three runs in the first four innings after the leadoff batter came around to score in three frames.

Cooney (2-0) found a rhythm and struck out a career-high eight batters in six innings. The senior gave up one earned run on six hits and walked four.

Alex Pepe and Chris Eberhart came out of the pen to finish the game for the Owls and did not allow a hit in the final three innings.

After falling behind, the FAU bats came alive in the third inning and posted eight runs in three innings. Daniel Bomback delivered a shot to left field for his third homer of the season to leadoff the inning. After a Robbie Widlansky double, Mike McKenna followed with his third home run of the season to give FAU the lead.

The team added a run in the fourth on an RBI single by Widlansky who followed with a two-run double in the fifth to close out the FAU scoring. Widlansky finished with three RBI and three hits to lead FAU.

Cory Dragstrem led the Cardinals with a three-for-four performance from the nine spot in the lineup.

Brenden Stines (0-1) suffered the loss for Ball State as he allowed four runs on nine hits and struck out six in four innings.

In the first game of the day at the FAU Beach Ball Bash, Oklahoma State University defeated La Salle University 8-2.

FAU will face off against no. 17 Oklahoma State at 6:30 p.m. in the program's 1,500 game on Saturday. LaSalle and Ball State will start the day with a doubleheader at 11 a.m.