Raymond Church rounds third to score FAU's first run of Tuesday's game at UCF before it was cancelled. (FAUOwlAccess.com photo)
Seen enough
FAU coach John McCormack liked what he saw out of his Owls before rain washed away their their final non-conference game against UCF
Originally published on
5/18/2010
by
Chuck King
ORLANDO – FAU coach John McCormack didn’t get the full tune-up he hoped for prior to the Owls’ season ending series against FIU.
The little he did see in Tuesday’s three plus innings his Owls played against UCF pleased him.
FAU led 4-3 in the top of the fourth inning when inclement weather forced the teams off the field. More than an hour later, the game was called.
“Everybody got some at-bats,” McCormack said. “Most guys [in the starting lineup] got two. We got some guys in the game. They got to field ground balls. … I was really happy. There was good enthusiasm. I don’t walk away disappointed.”
Central Florida struck first with Jonathan Griffin’s two-run homer in the second.
FAU got those runs back and more in the top of the third, striking for four runs against reliever Matt Goodyear.
Eddie Cassidy gave the Owls their first lead with a two-run single. Nick DelGuidice followed with an RBI double that drove in Cassidy.
“We had some really good at-bats,” said McCormack, pointing to Cassidy’s and DelGuidice’s in particular.
The Owls had Nathan Pittman on first and a 2-2 count on Andy Mee when lightening suspended play.
“With the more rain coming, the prudent thing was, in the interest of nobody getting hurt, to call it,” McCormack said as he walked to the bus.
Beginning on Thursday, FAU will host Florida International in a three game series that will go a long way to determining the Sun Belt Conference’s regular season champion.
Off last weekend, FAU will be coming off a stretch during which the Owls faced three non-conference opponents in 10 days. McCormack told his players he didn’t want them even thinking about FIU until after the trip to Orlando.
“Now we start thinking about it,” DelGuidice said. “As much as it has probably been in the back of everyone’s mind, you don’t want it to be but it is. Now it’s time.”