FAU’s Blue Wave baseball team was openly upset that they were invited to the Coral Gables Regional June 4-6. Head Coach Kevin Cooney even showed up at the opening press conference in the team’s camouflage hat.

Cooney and his players believed they deserved better than a third seed in the national tournament and also better luck than playing in Miami, where the team has lost three of the last four regional tournaments they have played in.

The tournament started off strong for the Blue Wave as they took a 4-2 lead into the sixth inning against second seed North Carolina State on Friday. Then a two-hour rain delay ended the afternoon for starting pitcher Chris Saxton. His replacement Chris Hughes pitched a strong seventh but got tired in the eighth and gave the reigns to Allan Knight to finish the game.

Here is where FAU got into trouble.

For starters, the team’s closer for most of the season was Saxton and since he was the starting pitcher for this game he obviously would not be the closer for this tournament.

Second, Knight’s last appearance in Miami was against the University of Florida one year ago at the same regional. Knight watched as the Gators sent balls all over the field in a 22-14 pounding of the Blue Wave to eliminate FAU.

Knight was one pitch away from ending the game twice but the Wolfpack got key hits and scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth to send FAU into the loser’s bracket.

On Saturday, Coach Cooney had decided to pitch his number two pitcher, Matt O’Brien, against St. Bonaventure but had not decided who would start if the Blue Wave won.

The dilemma was that the team would be facing either Miami or NC St. again in the evening and FAU’s number one starter would be available. Pitching coach Craig Roig told Cooney that he should start the number four, Will Mann. Cooney needed to decide what was the best option.

St. Bonaventure went down quietly as Rusty Brown hit two home runs and the Blue Wave coasted to a 14-4 victory. Cooney now had four hours to make a decision.

As game time loomed closer, Cooney decided to roll the dice and pitch Mann against NC St., who are not considered a great batting team.

The gamble seemed to pay off as Mann threw a complete game giving up only two runs as the Blue Wave won 10-2.

The stage was set for a showdown with Miami in the championship round on Sunday; FAU needed two victories over the Hurricanes to advance to the Super Regionals.

Randy Beam would be facing Miami’s ace J.D. Cockroft in the first game. Beam, FAU’s number one pitcher, lost a 1-0 game to Miami in last year’s regional, giving up only five hits.

The Blue Wave battled hard and trailed Miami 3-2 in the third when they were forced into their second rain delay of the tournament. This one lasted an hour and fifty-seven minutes.

When the delay ended Beam stayed in the game and in the fifth inning a two-run home run by Robbie Widlanski put FAU on top 5-4. The lead would last one inning.

In the seventh, Beam, who was over the 100-pitch count, seemed to tire. With the game tied at five, Beam gave up a three-run triple to tournament MVP Jim Burt. That opened the floodgates for Miami.

The Blue Wave sent four more pitchers to the mound but Miami kept pouring on the hits as they ended with 10 hits for extra bases.

After the smoke had cleared, Miami scored nine runs in the seventh en route to a 19-6 victory over the Blue Wave, ending their season.

At the post-game conference, Cooney said, “I was looking for a pitcher that would put something on the fire instead of more gasoline.”

A gamble that seemed to work, letting Mann pitch Saturday, turned out to be irrelevant, as the bullpen behind Beam could not help in the final game.

Cooney said, “We thought it gave us the best chance to win this tournament.”

He was right, but unfortunately the Hurricanes were the best on this day.

The Blue Wave lost this tournament and made it four in a row at the Coral Gables Regional, but Cooney keeps the faith.

“We know we’re going to have to come down here, one of these days we’ll break through the door.”

Although pitching was the Blue Wave’s demise, the hitters put on a show.

Rusty Brown tied the career record for RBI’s with 182 on a sacrifice fly in the Miami game. Jeff Fiorentino also hit his 44th career home run and set a record for runs scored in a season at 83.

Cooney will need to replace these two players when he faces Miami again. (Brown graduates and Fiorentino was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles). But, the similarities with the Hurricanes start here. FAU is at the stage of reloading every year instead of rebuilding.