Owls outlast Hawks to sweep opening of baseball season

BOCA RATON — The crooked numbers piled up on the Florida Atlantic scoreboard as the minutes wasted away on Sunday afternoon, FAU and Monmouth trading home runs and pitching changes in their series finale.

In a three-hour and 39-minute game, the Owls outlasted the Hawks, 12-10, to earn a season-opening sweep. Sunday’s victory punctuated an offensive explosion for the Owls, who opened the season 3-0 for the third straight season.

“It’s a good thing that we had a little adversity, we fought through it and we came out on top,” FAU coach John McCormack said. “We see some things that we need to work on, better at-bats, we need to get our bunts down. Today, it was exacerbated by the end of the game.”

First baseman Esteban Puerta, shortstop Tyler Frank and second baseman Stephen Kerr each homered. Puerta’s second home run of the weekend was part of a 3-for-4, five-RBI day. He drove in a team-high 11 runs the three games against Monmouth.

“He’s done a nice job,” McCormack said. “If you notice, they tried to get him to chase some stuff and he hadn’t. He’s off to a good start.”

Frank stayed hot in the leadoff slot, going 5 for 6 with two doubles and three RBI. He was 10 for 17 on the weekend with six runs scored.

The Owls jumped out to a 10-2 lead after three innings on Sunday. FAU sent 10 batters to the plate in the third inning and knocked out Hawks right-hander Tyler Ksiazek after he gave up 10 hits and eight runs in just 2 2/3 innings.

“We know that there’s a lot of guys that can still turn up a little,” Puerta said. “When everything gets rolling, this is definitely a good offense.”

Monmouth answered with a seven-run fourth inning. After the lengthy rest in the dugout following FAU’s offensive outburst, Owls left-hander Nick Swan retired none of the five batters he faced in the fourth. He completed just three innings, allowing seven runs on seven hits. He also walked two and hit three batters.

The Hawks never tied the game.

FAU right-hander Drew Peden earned the win by throwing three innings and surrendering one unearned run. He struck out five and walked two.

After winning Friday night’s opener 16-5, the Owls rode six strong innings from left-hander Jake Miednik to a 6-1 win on Saturday night. Miednik, making his first start as an Owl after transferring from Walters State Community College, struck out eight and the run he allowed was unearned.

FAU catcher Kevin Abraham has a fractured cheek after he was hit in the face by a pitch on Friday night. Abraham, who was in the Owls’ dugout Sunday, was playing his first game since beating Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma last year. McCormack said Abraham was day-to-day until the swelling goes down.

FAU heads to Daytona Beach on Wednesday for a game against BethuneCookman.