Feb. 28, 2006

Final Stats

Florida Atlantic University's baseball team took a one-run lead over the St. Louis Cardinals into the bottom of the eighth inning. The Redbirds then exploded for six runs on five hits, including a three-run home run by Reid Gorecki for a 6-1 win to open spring training. FAU picked up four hits off of the major leaguers and only allowed four hits through the first seven innings.

"I was real proud of the way our pitchers played and I thought we hit the ball pretty well," said FAU head coach Kevin Cooney. "They made a couple of great defensive plays and stopped us from scoring some runs. It was a misleading score. It was a good game."

Andrew Tomlin started the contest for the Owls and struck out the first batter he faced. After giving up a base hit to Skip Schumaker, Tomlin recorded the final two outs of the inning on a flyout and a strikeout.

Tomlin picked up two of FAU's strikeouts, while Kenny Gray posted the other two after working 1 2/3 innings.

After receiving a free pass to lead off the seventh inning, Anthony Albano moved to second on a passed ball before a ground out moved the senior to third bass. Alex Fonseca then hit the ball back to the pitcher but an error allowed Albano to cross the plate for the 1-0 lead.

Anthony Bradley entered to work the eighth for FAU and was tagged for three hits and suffered loss. Brandon Cooney followed and gave up a double to Scott Spiezio and a home run to Gorecki.

Andy Cavazos earned the win after he worked and inning and did not allow a runner on base.

Jordan Hafer had the defensive highlights of the afternoon. He made a leaping catch at first base in the third inning to rob Brendan Ryan of a base hit. After moving to left field in the seventh, he took another hit away from Travis Hanson as he made a diving catch in the gap.

FAU will make its longest road trip of the season this weekend when the team travels to Fort Worth, TX to face TCU in a three-game series beginning Friday.