Blue Hens Drop Opening Pair at FAU

Saturday, February 15

Boca Raton, FL

1:30 p.m.

University of Delaware

0-1

Florida Atlantic University

1-0

Delaware

Florida Atlantic

Photo by: Tim Barbini

2/15/2020 8:01:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Carpenter picks up right where he left off last season while nine make Delaware debuts

BOCA RATON, Fla. – The Delaware baseball team played a pair of games to open the season after having its season opener washed to Saturday, dropping both contests to FAU, 8-4 and 9-5.

"Losing two games in one day is not what you like to do, but I did see some positive signs of good things to come and some things we need to work at," said 20th year head coach Jim Sherman. "FAU is a very good offensive team and I thought our young guys and bullpen guys threw the ball really well. We are swinging it average right now, but I think we have a chance to be pretty good as we continue to play."

Game One
After rain entered the picture through 3.5 innings Friday night, the Blue Hens and Owls resumed play in the home half of the fourth with FAU leading 5-1. Junior Jordan Hutchins homered in the top of the fourth the cut into the deficit before the delay.

Rain would be a factor again after an RBI base hit to restart the game, there was another rain delay but this one would not last. FAU took a 8-1 lead into the seventh before freshman Bryce Greenly pinch hit to drive home sophomore Joseph Carpenter. Senior Jack Goan would come around on a wild pitch and classmate Vinny Vaccone would drive home Greenly to make it 8-4.

Freshman Nate Rolka made his collegiate debut, throwing the final two innings for the Blue Hens without allowing a run while striking out four.

Carpenter was 3-for-4 with a double to lead the Delaware offense while freshman Aidan Riley singled in his first collegiate at-bat.

Game Two
In the middle game of the series, Delaware wasted no time to jump out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning. Carpenter doubled home Hutchins before a junior John Marti sacrifice fly to score senior Kyle Baker and Greenly drove home Carpenter.

But the Owls would score nine-unanswered runs to take a 9-3 advantage into the seventh before a Hutchins sacrifice fly to score freshman Joey Loynd and a senior Jack Goan double to bring home Vaccone.

Another bright spot out of the bullpen was junior Winston Allen who worked a scoreless two innings, facing the minimum six batters with one strikeout.

Carpenter was 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored while Baker was 2-for-4 with a run.

The Blue Hens and Owls will meet for the series finale Sunday with first pitch scheduled for 12 p.m.

For the latest on the Delaware baseball program, follow the Blue Hens on Twitter @DelawareBASE and Instagram @delawarebase and like "Delaware Baseball" on Facebook.

NOTES

A total of nine Blue Hens made their collegiate and/or Delaware debuts between Friday and Saturday. Junior John Marti and sophomore Tyler Juhl made the Delaware debuts, both in the starting lineup for game one after transferring and sitting out last season. Freshmen Aidan Riley, Bryce Greenly, Joey Loynd and Nate Rolka each made their collegiate debuts in game one, while classmate Jorden Jurkiewicz got the start in game two behind the dish. Freshmen Reece Bolton and Evan Harris came on in relief in game two.
Dating back to last season, sophomore Joseph Carpenter has reached base in 44 of the last 45 games.
The four runs in game one were the most in a season opener for Delaware since 2015 when the Blue Hens won, 6-1, over Stetson.