April 23, 2002

Game 1 Box Score and Play-by-Play
Game 2 Box Score and Play-by-Play

DELAND, FL - Heather Wright homered twice to lead Florida Atlantic University to a doubleheader sweep at Stetson University Tuesday night in DeLand, FL. FAU won the first game 7-0 before taking game two 6-2. The wins improve the no. 10 Lady Owls to 54-8 on the year and 16-2 in the Atlantic Sun Conference. The sweep also assured FAU a regular season A-Sun title and the top seed in next month's A-Sun Tournament. Stetson fell to 43-10 and 10-4 in the A-Sun.

In game one, FAU started quickly with the first five batters reaching base. Wright led off the game with a towering home run to left field. Ginny Matthews followed with a walk before Nikki Myers singled. After an intentional pass to Ninya Ybarra loaded the bases, Pam Mazzarella singled home two runs to give the Lady Owls a 3-0 lead.

FAU took a 4-0 lead in the fourth on a two-out run-scoring double by Ybarra that scored Wright. The lead ballooned to 7-0 in the seventh on a three-run homer by Mazzarella, her fourth of the season. Mazzarella finished game one with two hits and five RBIs. The seven runs by FAU tied a season-high by a Stetson opponent while the loss was the first of the year at home for the Hatters.

Candice Freel (23-4) picked up the win for FAU, allowing four hits with four strikeouts and two walks. The shutout was her 11th of the season.

Game two was more of a pitcher's dual until the fifth inning. Mazzarella led off with a singles, and after Jessica Fernandez came in as a pinch runner, Jennifer Piazza doubled in Fernandez with one out to put FAU up 1-0. That would be just the beginning as Michelle Shirah would later drive in two more on a single to center. That set the stage for a two-run homer by Wright to put the Lady Owls on top 5-0. Wright entered the day with three homers on the year before her two blasts.

FAU would add their sixth run in the sixth on a two-out single by Piazza, who finished the game 3-for-3 with two RBIs.

Nikki Myers (31-4) picked up the win and set a new single-season record at FAU for wins. She allowed two runs on eight hits and struck out 11. She also surpassed 1,300 career strikeouts in the victory (1,308).

The wins for FAU improved the team to 13-0 this season on an opposing team's field and gave Stetson their first losses at home.

Florida Atlantic next hosts Lynn University Thursday night at 7:00pm.