After dropping its second consecutive weekend series, FAU coach John McCormack is asking his players to do what they couldn’t do a week ago: put it behind them.
McCormack admitted that his Owls let a hangover from what he termed a “devastating” three game sweep at the hands of Southern Miss two weekends ago carry over into Friday night’s loss at Western Kentucky.
He doesn’t want to see that happen again.
“It’s over with, we’ve got to move on,” McCormack said. “We can’t dwell on it.”
FAU dropped two of three at last-place Western Kentucky and fell into a tie with Louisiana Tech for third place in Conference USA, two games behind second-place Old Dominion. Southern Miss clinched the C-USA regular season title over the weekend.
Old Dominion comes to FAU this week for the final series of the regular season. With a sweep of the Monarchs the Owls could claim the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Conference USA baseball tournament. With a poor weekend FAU could fall all the way to the No. 7 seed.
“That’s how good the league is,” McCormack said. “We have a good weekend and Old Dominion falls from second to fifth. There’s a lot still in play.”
With the two weekend losses to the Hilltoppers FAU’s RPI fell from 55 to 73. Teams generally need to be below 40 to receive an at-large berth to the NCAA tournament. Central Florida, which FAU plays on Tuesday at the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, saw its RPI rise five points to 25 over the weekend. ODU sits at 41, so McCormack still holds out hope that four wins to close the season, plus a long run in the C-USA tournament could yield an at-large berth.
That may be too much to ask, though, from a team that’s lost five of its last six.
Home Away From Home: Before FAU gets its shot at ODU in a Thursday, Friday, Saturday series, FAU will play its second “home” game at the spring training home of the Houston Astros and Washington Nationals.
Looking for their second win against UCF in as many games season, FAU will send junior right-hander Marc Stewart (1-1, 5.40 ERA) to the mound. McCormack is looking for Stewart to make it through the Knights’ lineup once. He also intends to get lefty Nick Swan and closer Cameron Ragsdale some work.
FAU will face a shorter-than-normal turnaround prior to the final series of the season – which traditionally begins on Thursday rather than Friday. FAU didn’t play midweek games either of the last two weeks. Even with the quick turnaround, McCormack is glad the Owls are playing one this week.
“I think we need to play,” McCormack said. “The guys need to get back in the box and play.”
Nowatnick News: Mark Nowatnick will have his injured left foot X-rayed again on Wednesday and if all goes well he could be available to pitch this weekend, McCormack said. Nowatnick cracked a bone in his foot during the celebration of a walk-off win over FIU three weekends ago. That came two weeks after the righty moved from the bullpen into the weekend rotation.
McCormack said he would like to see Nowatnick pitch in a game before the start of the C-USA tournament, but that isn’t a prerequisite to using him in the tournament. Nowatnick has been able to play catch since the injury.
Keating KO’ed: FAU will be without the services of sophomore relief pitcher Eric Keating for the remainder of the year because of unspecified reasons, McCormack said. In 17 appearances, covering 13 innings, Keating held a 1-1 record with a 3.46 ERA. He’d struck out 14 while working five. McCormack said Keating is still a member of the team.
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