BOCA RATON, Fla. – Florida Atlantic University’s baseball team (3-3) opened the three-game home series with Delaware (2-2) with an 8-5 loss.
QuotableHead Coach John McCormack on the game
“In the beginning, we didn’t pitch at all and the thing we have to do, which we haven’t been able to do, is make a play to get us out of an inning,” said John McCormack, FAU’s head coach. “Offensively, we have to be able to tack on runs and we didn’t do it. Credit their [Delaware] starting pitcher. He was really good. Their last guy [Dom Velazquez] was juiced up and ready to go and did a nice job. We want to be good. We want to accomplish a lot. A night like this can’t happen.”
THE BEGINNINGBoth pitchers got through the first inning unscathed. In the top of the second, the Blue Hens used two hits to score one and take the early lead. They added two more in the top of the third to chase FAU starting pitcher Jacob Josey, from the game. UD’s hits kept coming adding two runs in the third and two more in the top of the fourth building a 5-0 lead.
THE TURNING POINTThe Owls had a leadoff homer by Gabriel Rincones, Jr. in the bottom of the fourth and repeated with a leadoff homer by Shane Magrann in the bottom of the fifth, but FAU could not string a rally together, falling behind 8-2.
THE FINISHA quartet of FAU pitchers would each pitch an inning an inning each of scoreless baseball, but the Owls added just three runs in that same time frame to take the 8-5 loss.
THE ARMS
- Josey fell to 0-2 on the year and was charged with five earned runs
- Evan Waterboro threw 1.2 innings, giving up three runs on three hits. He walked one and struck out one
- Bryce Braxton got an inning of work, held UD scoreless for the first time since the first inning, struck out two and walked one
- Tyler Burnham, Bryan Boully and Nicholas Del Prado each tossed scoreless innings with Burnham striking out one, Boully two and Del Prado three
THE BATS
- Three solo homers were hit in the game with Gabriel Rincones, Jr tagging his team leading fourth
- Tyler Kelder connected on his second homer and Shane Magrann collected his first home run
- Rincones, Kelder Steven Loden and Jackson Ross were the Owls with multiple hits. Rincones was 2-fo-5, Kelder was 2-for-4, Loden was 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI and Ross was 2-for-4 with a double
WHAT’S NEXTThe two teams will play the second game of the series on Saturday at 4 p.m. It will be “Spring Cleaning Day” at the park with special giveaways throughout the game.
FOR SEASON TICKETSTo purchase FAU tickets, call 1-866-FAU-OWLS or click HERE. Stay informed by reading FAUSports.com, or through the baseball’s Twitter and Instagram accounts @FAUBaseball.
