NEW ORLEANS ? If they made a baseball coach's manual, the situation probably would have said to bunt. But the way University of New Orleans head coach Tom Walter saw it on Sunday, he had to take the gamble.
And it certainly paid off.
With runners on first and second and nobody out and down by one in the bottom of the ninth, designated hitter Alan Harris hit a three-run, walk-off home run to lead the Privateers to a 6-4 win over Florida Atlantic at Maestri Field.
Harris, making just his 13th start of the year, hit a line-drive shot off FAU starter Michael Obradovich (3-4) to help UNO (34-13, 15-8 Sun Belt) extend its win streak to nine and cap the Privateers' second straight SBC series weekend sweep. His only hit of the day turned out to be one of the biggest of the season.
“We talked about bunting in that situation, but we really liked the matchup we had,” Walter said. “Alan's been swinging the bat so well lately, and he looked me in the eye and said he was going to have a good at-bat. Give him credit for having the confidence to go out there and do it.
“This is a guy who has done everything we've asked of him. He's going to be an everyday player for us, and he showed why today.”
Jake Henderson (4-1) got the win in relief after getting the final two outs in the ninth inning. He took over for Justin Garcia, who ? despite giving up 11 hits ? was solid in his second start of the week.
The right-hander, one of nine seniors playing their final game at Maestri Field, struck out eight and matched Obradovich for the game's first eight innings.
In the ninth, with the game tied at 3-3, the Owls got a leadoff single from Tom Hatcher. Hatcher stole second and advanced to third after the throw to second ended up in the outfield.
Alex Silversmith then ripped an RBI double to left field to give FAU a 4-3 lead. Garcia and Henderson kept Silversmith at second, though, and UNO got its rally started in the bottom of the inning on a leadoff single by Nick Schwaner.
Jeff Lanning was hit by a pitch on a 1-2 count ? setting up Harris, who helped UNO take its second straight victory in the game's final at-bat.
“I really wanted to do this for those seniors,” said Harris, a Clinton, Miss., product who entered the game hitting .404. “He threw the first pitch away, and I was looking for the ball in, and I just turned on it. We really wanted this game, especially for the way Justin pitched.”
Joey Butler went 1-for-4 with a two-run double, and Lanning scored two runs for UNO. Hatcher went 3-for-4 with a solo home run for FAU (25-20, 12-10), and Mike McKenna and Jeremy Griffiths each had two hits.
Obradovich gave up eight hits and six runs and struck out two in eight-plus innings of work.
“This was a tremendous weekend for us,” Walter said. “We got three great efforts from our starting pitching this weekend, and we got a lot of clutch hits. Great teams find ways to win, and this team is starting to do that.”
UNO will play a 6:30 p.m. contest at Tulane on Tuesday. The game is scheduled to be televised on Cox Sports Television.
