Florida Atlantic 3, Va. Commonwealth 1

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Posted 7:20AM on Sunday, June 5, 2005

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) Mickey Storey struck out seven and pitched a complete game six-hitter and Florida Atlantic beat Virginia Commonwealth 3-1 in a NCAA regional elimination game Saturday. ``Another great performance by Mickey,'' said FAU coach Kevin Cooney. ``That was just what we needed, to throw him out there and compete.'' No. 4 seed Virginia Commonwealth (33-22) led 1-0 through seven innings, but trouble struck the Rams when coach Paul Keyes replaced tiring starter John Leonard with no outs and a runner on first. Reliever Brett Walker retired the first two batters he faced, but then allowed an RBI double to Mike McBryde that scored Tyler Stevens and a single to Alex Silversmith that brought McBryde home and gave the Owls (37-23) a 2-1 lead. ``(Walker) couldn't locate very well today, and they got a couple hits,'' said Keyes. Storey (10-1) remained in the game for the bottom of the eighth, where he promptly worked his way into a jam. The Rams put runners on second and third with one out against Storey, but the lanky righthander struck out Scott Sizemore and got cleanup hitter Tim St. Clair to ground out to end the inning. ``I just went out and threw to them like any other hitters,'' said Storey. ``I didn't want that run to cross the plate.'' ``Storey was outstanding,'' said Keyes. ``We worked as hard as we could against him.'' The Owls scored an additional run against Rams reliever Mick Mattaliano in the top of the ninth, and Storey closed the game out for his second consecutive complete game win. ``I just wanted it,'' said Storey, who did not allow a hit through the first three innings. ``I'd like to go out there and throw nine every time.'' FAU will next face the loser of Saturday night's game between host and top seed Miami and No. 2 seed Mississippi State in a 3 p.m. elimination game Sunday. ``What I told the players earlier is I used to heat my house with wood, cut down trees in the back yard in New Jersey,'' said Cooney. ``There's so many logs to carry out, and if you looked at all those logs, you'd never get the job done. You have to pick up one log, carry it to the truck and load it. ``We just picked up the first log today,'' Cooney said. ``The next log is tomorrow.'' (Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)