Box Score BOCA RATON, Fla. ? The UALR baseball team (5-6, 1-0) banged out a season-high 23 hits on Friday night to hand Florida Atlantic a 16-7 loss in the Sun Belt Conference opener for the two schools. Junior Jake Sullivan went 7.1 innings to improve to 3-0 on the year, and four different Trojans drove in three runs to defeat an FAU squad that had won six straight, including a victory over No. 17 Florida on Wednesday.
Senior Eric Hanlon and junior Nate Brown led the Trojans with four hits a piece, and were two of the four UALR players to drive in three runs, along with senior Matt Apfel and junior Tim Emmons. The two teams were tied 0-0 after four innings, before UALR plated six runs in the top of the fifth, thanks in large part to a two-run homer by Brown and a three-run bomb from Emmons.
Facing a 7-0 deficit in the bottom of the sixth, FAU finally scratched across a run on Sullivan, ending the lefty's string of 19-consecutive scoreless innings to start the season. UALR answered with a six-spot in the top of the seventh to take a 13-1 lead, as Hanlon delivered a two-run single and Apfel followed with a three-run homer (his third of the year).
UALR manufactured three more runs in the top of the eighth to go ahead 16-1, before FAU's offense finally came to life with five runs in the bottom half. Freshman Carlos Brizuela came on in relief of Sullivan in the bottom of the eighth, and recorded the final five outs to finish off the Owls.
Sullivan (3-0) allowed 12 hits and four runs (two earned) over 7.1 innings of work, while racking up five strikeouts against zero walks. FAU's Mike Gipson (1-1) took the loss after surrendering 12 hits, four walks and seven runs (all earned) over 5.0 innings.
Game two of the three-game Sun Belt Conference series is slated for 3 p.m. (CT) on Saturday.
