FAU players celebrate Eddie Cassidy's walk-off hit vs. Western Kentucky on April 17. (FAUOwlAccess.com file photo)
Now look who's on Top
FAU swept Western Kentucky in April, knocking the Hilltoppers out of first place. But WKU, the Owls' first-round opponent in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, isn't an ordinary No. 8 seed.
Originally published on
5/24/2010
by
Chuck King
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BOCA RATON - When Florida Atlantic coach John McCormack tells his No. 1-seeded Owls not to look past their opening round Sun Belt Conference Tournament game, he isn’t using hackneyed coach speech.
The Owls opponent, Western Kentucky, isn’t the usual No. 8 seed.
The Hilltoppers’ 16-14 conference record put them in a three way tie for sixth, but they lost the tie breakers to Troy and Arkansas St.
As a result, the team widely considered the best in the Belt as recently as a month ago became the lowest seed in the tournament, which begins on Wednesday in Murfreesboro, Tenn.
“I thought they were a very complete team,” McCormack recalled from the teams’ regular season series. “They swung the bats well. They had some team speed. They played pretty good defense. They pitched well.”
The mid-April Western Kentucky series marked the turnaround in FAU’s season.
In the two weeks leading up to that weekend the Owls lost their only Sun Belt series of the season to MTSU, gave away an excruciating Sunday game to New Orleans (one of only two conference games the Privateers won all season), and dropped a pair of games to Miami.
The Owls’ lackluster 7-4 victory over Division II Lynn in the game immediately preceding the Hilltoppers series provided little indication of what was to come.
A 2 hour 13 minute rain delay prior to the start of the Friday series opener, and the skit-for-skit hijinks that followed loosened the Owls up. They swept the then-No. 19 Hilltoppers, launching a run of 10 victories in their final 12 conference games.
“Even though we swept (WKU), I thought they were the most complete team in the conference,” McCormack said.
The Owls talk like they are heeding McCormack’s warnings and not resting on their regular season success.
“Western is one of the most dangerous teams in the conference,” senior shortstop Nick DelGuidice said. “I don’t think the eighth seed matters at all. Every team in this conference has a pitcher who can beat anybody.”
For Western Kentucky that pitcher is Matt Ridings. The Owls, who handed Ridings his lone loss of the season, likely won’t have to face the 9-game winner again. Ridings left the Hilltoppers’ weekend series against Middle Tennessee with a sore elbow and WKU coach Chris Finwood told the Daily News Journal that Ridings likely won’t be able to throw until the Hilltoppers' third game.
Of course, McCormack views that scenario with mixed emotions.
“Ridings, out of the group, I thought we hit the best, which is kind of an odd thing,” McCormack said. “But if we can avoid seeing him I’d avoid seeing him.”
FAU enters the post-season with a Boyd’s World psuedo-RPI of 33, only three spots higher than Western Kentucky. Most Owls seem to share DelGuidice’s opinion that their high RPI combined with the regular season conference title in the No. 6-rated conference should have them comfortably in the NCAA tournament field.
“I think if we are not, there’s something wrong with it,” DelGuidice says succinctly.
McCormack, though, won’t feel comfortable unless the Owls leave Murfreesboro with the tournament title as well.
“I don’t know who’s on the committee,” McCormack said. “A lot will depend on what happens this weekend. We have to play well. We can’t fall on our face and just hope the committee lets us in.”
No. 1 FAU (33-20)
vs. No. 8 Western Kentucky (16-14)
- When: Wednesday, TBA
- Where: Sun Belt Conference Tournament, Reese Smith Jr. Field, Murfreesboro, Tenn.
- Radio: Streaming live
- Scouting the Hilltoppers: Official site
Pitching probables: WKU TBA vs. FAU RHP Ryan Garton (6-3, 5.00)
Scouting the Hilltoppers: Second baseman Matt Payton hit .363 with seven home runs and 55 RBI. He didn’t play against the Owls in the regular season series. …Catcher Matt Rice leads WKU in average (.373), home runs (10) and RBI (63). …Kes Carter went 5-for-12 with a home run and four RBI during the first series. …Closer Rye Davis (9 saves) and Ross Hammonds boast sub-3.00 ERAs out of the pen.
Scouting the Owls: Eddie Cassidy’s walk-off single delivered the middle game of the regular season series to FAU. Cassidy was scratched from the final game of the regular season with a sore wrist…FAU won the third game of the series when third baseman Joey Burkhalter tagged J. P. Jackson, the potential game tying run, after Jackson overran third base. …Andy Mee went 8-for-13 with six RBI during that series. …FAU leftfielder Colby Gratton is the reigning Sun Belt Player of the Week.