Florida Atlantic coach John McCormack surprised me earlier this week when he said the weekend rotation wouldn't feature Barry Rooks.

Rooks began the season as the Saturday starter and was arguably the Owls' best pitcher until arm issues surfaced. Despite a couple of rough outings shortly before being shut down for a few weeks, Rooks still has the third best ERA on the team (4.25) and his three wins are tied for the most among Owl starters.

He didn't start in last weekend's series against New Orleans, but did come out of the bullpen on Sunday to throw seven innings of shutout ball, allowing only two hits and striking out seven.

Based on that performance, and the struggles of FAU's starters, it seemed likely McCormack would put Rooks back in the rotation. That didn't happen. In fact, that performance may have cemented Rooks' role in the pen.

Rooks is an insurance policy. Instead of penciling Rooks in to pitch one specific game, McCormack likes the idea of being able to call on Rooks in any one of the three weekend games.

"It's nice to have Barry there to kinda save us either Friday, Saturday or Sunday if we need it," McCormack said. "He's done it he understands it."

It does make some sense. FAU has put itself in the position where it can't afford to let a starting pitcher work through early-game stuggles. McCormack will have a quick hook all weekend.

McCormack is willing to look past Morrison's struggles last weekend, preferring to concentrate on his outing two weeks ago when he shut down conference-leader Western Kentucky. Ahmed Garcia is coming off an outstanding performance and is a no-brainer to start again on Saturday. Brent Adheen didn't record an out on Sunday, but McCormack believes he's been one of the Owls best pitchers down the stretch. McCormack also doesn't like the way Adheen pitches when coming in from the pen. If he didn't start Adheen, McCormack figures, he'd be shortening his bench because he wouldn't use Adheen at all.

"I can't imagine Adheen having another bad start," McCormack said.

There is risk involved. There's something to be said for knowing when your best pitcher will throw - or even knowing for sure that he will throw.

Check back with FAUOwlAccess.com for full coverage of the weekend series.

chuck

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