May 8, 2006

On Deck - May 8th

After a pivotal Atlantic Sun Conference series last weekend, Florida Atlantic University's baseball team continues its tough trek toward the A-Sun Tournament. This week the team will play five games in six days and face a Stetson University team that posted a 14-3 record during the month of April.

FAU enters the week with a 24-23, 10-14 A-Sun record after taking two games from Lipscomb University last weekend. The Owls are led by Jordan Hafer's .335 batting average and seven home runs.

Senior Tim Mascia leads the team with 55 hits and has been moving up the FAU career hits list. The outfielder is now third in the category with 245 hits. He needs three hits to take over second but will need 290 hits to take over Kevin Connacher at the top of the list.

Pitcher Mickey Storey will also be listed in the FAU record books. This season he has recorded 104 strikeouts to become one of only eight pitchers in the programs history to reach the 100 mark. To break the single season strikeout record he will need to break Todd Moser's mark of 130 from 1999.

The Hatters were swept last weekend at ETSU an enter the week with a 28-19, 12-11 A-Sun record before facing the University of South Florida on Tuesday. The team is led offensively by Chris John's .378 batting average, nine home runs, 47 RBI, and .596 slugging percentage.

Expected to take the mound for Stetson on Friday night is Boynton Beach native Chris Ingoglia. The junior left-handed pitcher leads the pitching staff with a 3.33 ERA and 6-1 record. Corey Kluber is expected to follow Ingoglia's performance and stands with a 5-3 record and 3.39 ERA.

The pitching staff is ranked second in the A-Sun with a 4.13 ERA and is helped by closer Robbie Elsemiller's 2.66 ERA in 50 2/3 innings. The sophomore has 13 saves on the season.

Stetson enters the week ranked fourth in the conference, while the Owls are tied for sixth.

The series will kickoff on Friday night at 7 p.m. followed by a 2 p.m. game on Saturday and a 1 p.m. game on Sunday.