On Friday Feb. 25, the FAU Blue Wave welcomed the Purdue Boilermakers to beautiful Boca Raton for a three game series. FAU was victorious in Friday’s contest, with clutch-hitting Brain Lipman coming up big with two hits out of four tries at the plate. Catcher Alex Silversmith also contributed two hits, and third baseman Robbie Widlansky’s solo home run in the seventh inning secured the win for the Blue Wave. Perdue’s only runs in the game came off the bat of Andy Dahl, who recorded four RBI’s with a monstrous grand slam home run in the sixth inning. FAU starting pitcher Will Mann (1-1) took home the win to even his record, and Mickey Storey grabbed his first save of this young baseball season.
Perhaps due to the excitement of having Roger Clemens in their midst, the Blue Wave came out to play on Saturday and, despite spotting the Boilermakers a two run lead in the first inning, were able to hang on for a 5-4 triumph at the stadium. Yes fans, Roger Clemens was in the house on Feb. 26 for a fundraising dinner at the FAU gymnasium. He quite possibly may have lent some good karma to the FAU sluggers, along with the help of Lipman and Mike McBryde. Lipman came through in the clutch, delivering the game winning hit with runners at both corners in the last of the seventh inning. Utility man McBryde and shortstop Alex Fonseca, along with Lipman, hammered out two hits apiece in the contest. In addition, infielder Bobby DiLiberto recorded an inside-the-park home run in the second inning to tie the score at three. McBryde was able to pick up his third save for the FAU bullpen as the Blue Wave raised their record to 6-2, dispatching the Boilermakers 5-4 on an overcast day.
On an intermittently cloudy and rainy Sunday, March 27 in Boca Raton, the Blue Wave gave the Boilermakers a six run lead by the eighth inning and were never able to recover, dropping the contest to 9-3 in the last game of the three game series. Starting pitcher Chris Salberg (0-2) absorbed the loss for the Blue Wave after a rough six innings played. The lone bright spot came from designated hitter Brian Lipman, who drove in two runs on two hits in the game. Lipman enjoyed an excellent series against Perdue, finishing the three game set with a .545 slugging percentage and seven RBI’s. Despite a poor showing on Sunday, the Blue Wave were able to come away from the Perdue series on the winning end, and should take their confidence on the road to Las Vegas for a three game set with UNLV next week. That game will be after back to back South Florida contests versus Michigan and an exhibition game against the National League Champion St. Louis Cardinals.
