April 15, 2006

NASHVILLE, TN - The Florida Atlantic University softball team ended a tremendous offensive weekend by setting a school record for home runs in a game while sweeping an Atlantic Sun Conference doubleheader with Lipscomb 13-4 and 8-3 at Draper Diamond in Nashville, Tenn. on Saturday.

The Owls blasted four home runs in the opener, breaking the record of three home runs set on eight previous occasions. Florida Atlantic added two more long balls in the nightcap and hit eight home runs in total during the six-game trip to the Volunteer State.

FAU (23-21, 10-4 A-Sun) swept three conference opponents during the trip, hitting .359 as a team while averaging eight runs and nearly 11 hits per game. The Owls had 16 extra-base hits among 65 total hits and slugged an amazing .536 as a team.

Senior Danielle Arriaga (Miami, Fla.) hit .556 with 11 RBIs in the six games while slugging .833. Eight other Owls hit .353 or better.

Senior Jessica Sachs (Chestnut Ridge, N.Y.) totaled 10 hits and a team-high nine runs for the trip. Freshman Kala Guy (Hollywood, Fla.) led Florida Atlantic with 12 RBIs and five extra-base hits on the weekend.

Arriaga had four hits, including a grand slam, and seven RBIs during Saturday's action to pace the Owls. Guy hit her first two career home runs, had four RBIs and scored three times.

Sachs scored five times and had four hits in the double-dip. FAU totaled 24 hits against Lipscomb.

Game One: Florida Atlantic 13, Lipscomb 4

Final Stats

Four home runs and a seven-run seventh highlighted a 13-4 win for Florida Atlantic in the opener against Lipscomb. Sachs scored three times and had two hits as the Owls matched their season high for runs.

Sachs was one of four Owls with long balls in the game. The senior opened the game in style, ripping a 1-1 pitch from Sara Meek (8-14) over the leftfield wall for her third home run of the season.

Junior Shauna Corso (Seal Beach, Calif.) added a two-run blast in the third, giving the Owls a 3-0 advantage and plating Sachs with her second run of the game. The Bisons chased Florida Atlantic starting pitcher Kathryn Stauffer (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) from the game with a four-run third to take a one-run edge.

Jessica Sachs scored five runs in Saturday's games.

Florida Atlantic grabbed the lead for good in the fifth, when Sachs' third run of the game came home on a two-RBI double off the bat of Arriaga. That bases-loaded hit also scored pinch runner Lauren Crandall (DeLand, Fla.) from third.

Guy hit her first career home run to lead off the sixth for Florida Atlantic, giving the Owls a 6-4 advantage heading into the final stanza. The first six batters of the seventh scored for Florida Atlantic.

Sophomore Charlotte Baird, who graduated from Beech High School just outside of Nashville, crushed her second collegiate home run over the leftfield fence to become the seventh Owl to score in the seventh. The inning also featured a two-RBI double by Guy.

In addition to Sachs' three-run game, Corso reached safely in all four of her plate appearances, scoring twice with two RBIs. Arriaga scored once and plated two on two hits, while Guy had two runs and three RBIs on two hits, all in the final two innings.

Junior Jen Musillo (Tequesta, Fla.) threw three innings of relief to get her second win in two days. She struck out four and walked one with two hits allowed in moving to 7-6 on the year.

Meek was responsible for 11 hits and nine runs, including seven earned, but did strike out eight Owls in the game.

Game Two: Florida Atlantic 8, Lipscomb 3

Final Stats

The offensive onslaught continued in game two as FAU scored seven runs in the second inning. The stanza featured a grand slam home run for Arriaga, her first fence-clearing hit of the year, and Guy's second career long ball.

Kala Guy hit her first two career home runs in Nashville.

Sophomore Melissa Moore (Miami, Fla.) had two hits in the inning. A two-RBI hit by junior Jenna Lopez (Orangeburg, N.Y.) was the sixth of seven singles and nine hits by Florida Atlantic before the third inning.

Sachs scored Florida Atlantic's first run of the game, leading off with a single in the first. She eventually came home from third on a single by Arriaga.

Florida Atlantic totaled 10 hits in the game, the fifth time in six games that the Owls reached double figures for hits during the trip. Sachs scored two more runs in the nightcap and Arriaga had five RBIs in two trips to the plate.

Junior Meghan Doonan (Wallingford, Conn.) moved to 6-1 with the win, striking out six, walking three and allowing seven hits in the complete game. Allison Tyree fell to 2-7, surrendering all eight runs on eight hits in 1 2/3 innings for Lipscomb (13-27, 3-9 A-Sun).

Florida Atlantic returns home for the first time in three weeks on Saturday, April 22 when they host Mercer in an Atlantic Sun Conference doubleheader at 6:00 p.m.