| 4/4/2025 | Baseball | Box Score GREENVILLE, N.C. – Florida Atlantic baseball held off a hard-charging East Carolina team on Friday night to take the series opener by a 6-5 final. The Owls (21-9, 3-4) handed the Pirates their first American Athletic Conference loss of the season (20-11, 6-1). THE BEGINNING The signs may have been there that this would be the Owls’ night after the game’s first pitch. Marshall Lipsey’s deep fly ball to the track in centerfield ricocheted off the glove of ECU centerfielder Alex Peltier and over the wall for a home run. ECU responded to tie the game in the home half of the first. They also tagged Owls’ starter Trey Beard for a run in each of the second and third innings before the sophomore settled in. THE TURNING POINT The FAU offense picked up their starter in the fourth. With two on and two outs, Lipsey connected for his second home run of the night, a line drive over the right field wall, to put Owls back in front, 4-3. The next batter, Patrick Ward, took a 2-1 pitch and launched it over the left field wall for back-to-back home runs. The Owls extended the lead to 6-3 on a Jake Duer infield single in the sixth. Beard retired the Pirates in order in the ensuing half-inning, worked around a walk and a bunt single in the fifth, and posted another 1-2-3 frame in the sixth. The lefty went back out for the seventh despite a pitch count already over 100. He struck out the first two batters and then rolled a ground ball to send the game to the eighth. THE FINISH Beard walked the leadoff man in the eighth to signal the end of his night. ECU would inch one run closer (6-4) in the inning before MJ Bollinger stranded two runners on.There were more dramatics to be had in the ninth. Attempting a five-out save, Bollinger got the leadoff hitter to pop out. After a walk, shortstop Brando Leroux made a highlight-reel, over-the-shoulder catch in shallow left field for the second out. The Pirates would log back-to-back singles to score another run to make it 6-5 before Bollinger struck out ECU’s Jack Herring to end it.The final two outs from tonight’s win… #WIP pic.twitter.com/Y5KwzUKRt3– Florida Atlantic Baseball (@FAUBaseball) April 5, 2025 THE BATS The Owls out-hit the Pirates 11-9Lipsey has reached base safely in 28 straight games. His two home runs bring his season total to eight – tied for the team lead with John Schroeder.Danny Baez came on as a pinch-hitter in the sixth and went 2-for-2 with a run scored. THE ARMS Beard improved to 5-0 after the longest outing of his career. The sophomore threw 121 pitches in 7+ innings. He struck out eight, walked three, and allowed four runs on eight hits. Steven Andrews recorded the first out of the eighth before giving way to Bollinger for the last five outs.Bollinger’s save was his sixth of the season. QUOTABLE Postgame with @FAUCoachMac #WIP pic.twitter.com/uuO55e6xiV– Florida Atlantic Baseball (@FAUBaseball) April 5, 2025 WHAT’S NEXT The Owls will look to win the series on Saturday when the sides meet again for a 4 p.m. first pitch on ESPN+. |
