April 27, 2008

Box Score

BOCA RATON, FL - Owls starter Jeff Beliveau retired 15 of the first 18 hitters he faced and Alex Silversmith hit a pinch-hit, three-run homer in the eighth to seal Florida Atlantic University's 10-5 victory over Western Kentucky University Sunday.

Beliveau struck out eight and took a no-hitter into the sixth. He is 3-1 with a 2.96 ERA in his last four outings and owns the lowest ERA, 4.13, among FAU starters.

Florida Atlantic (25-17; 12-7 SBC) moved into sole possession of second place in the league standings. FAU is 6-1 in head-to-head series against Sun Belt Conference teams this season, its only setback being a three-game road sweep at the hands of league-leading University of Louisiana-Monroe.

Following a two-out single by David Wilson in the fourth inning, Jeremy Griffiths drove a first-pitch offering from WKU starter Colby Beach into the bullpen beyond the fence in right field. It was Griffith's fifth home run of the season- all have come at FAU Stadium.

Beach (2-2) worked out of trouble in each of the first three innings, stranding seven FAU base runners, but reached the 100-pitch mark by inning number five and was lifted after Tom Hatcher hit an RBI-double down the left field line to make it 3-0 with one out in the fifth.

Hatcher finished 2-for-4 and has a hit in each of the last 15 games.

FAU went on bat around in the fifth and score four more times. Troy Bubley, Griffiths and Mike McKenna each had two-out, run-scoring singles in the inning.

Western Kentucky (24-19; 11-10 SBC) made a game of it by getting on the scoreboard in the sixth and adding four more in the seventh and eighth.

Jeremy Coleman's two-run single in the eighth plated two of the three runners who had reached off FAU reliever Chris Schmitt, cutting what was a 7-0 lead down to 7-5.

Silversmith's pinch-hit home run off Garrie Kruger dashed WKU's comeback hopes, lifting a first pitch out to right field and off the scoreboard to make it 10-5.

Brett Cannon got Schmitt out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the eighth and pitched the ninth to earn his first save.

GAME NOTES: SS Nick Arata was scratched from the starting line-up due to a leg injury, he is expected to start next Friday in New Orleans... In place of Arata, CF David Wilson was moved into the lead-off spot in the order. 21 of Wilson's 31 previous starts had him hitting 7th... Hatcher's 15-game hit streak is one shy of an FAU season-high, both 2B William Block and Arata have had 16-gamers earlier this season.