| 4/7/2024 | Baseball | Box Score BOCA RATON, Fla. – Florida Atlantic baseball dropped the series finale 8-6 to No. 12 East Carolina on Sunday afternoon. The Owls will play the next five games on the road starting Tuesday at Miami. THE BEGINNING After two scoreless innings by starter Trey Beard, the Owls’ offense kicked into gear in the bottom of the second. A two-out infield single by Dylan LaPointe and an ECU error put two on for Jalen DeBose who promptly lined an RBI single to center. Spencer Rich followed with another hit, driving in two more runs. THE TURNING POINT ECU chipped away against Beard. They scored one in the top of the third and tied the game in the fourth. The Owls’ defense let them down in the fifth. The Pirates started the inning against reliever Braden Ostrander with three consecutive singles, with a throwing error by Ostrander mixed in.It was 5-3 ECU with still no outs and a runner on second when a dropped fly ball in left field eventually led to more runs on the board. Sam Drumheller was able to come out of the bullpen and limit the damage, but the visitors still came away with a five-run inning to lead 8-3. THE FINISH The Owls made it a game again in the bottom of the seventh, though they recorded just one hit in the process. Two walks, two hit batters, and a wild pitch led to one run. With the bases loaded and no outs, John Schroeder drove home two with a base hit to make it 8-6.Danny Trehey held the Pirates scoreless in the eighth and ninth innings to give the offense another chance in the final half inning. A walk and another ECU error put two on, but a double play ball put a halt to the Owls’ comeback hopes. QUOTABLE Head Coach John McCormack “We were not good today. Credit to ECU, they kept charging. We didn’t make the pitches when we needed to in that fifth inning. We thought we were kind of over that… we had a number of innings early in the year where it just kind of snowballed on us. And that’s what happened again today. Offensively, we had our shot. We had one hit after the second inning. We didn’t come through when we needed to. It’s disappointing. We’ve got to be better.” THE BATS Schroeder and Rich finished with two RBI each.DeBose and Brando Leroux scored two runs each.The Owls left eight on base compared to six for ECU THE ARMS Beard struck out four in four innings of work.Ostrander was tagged for three earned runs (four total)Drumheller allowed an unearned run in his two innings.Ben Gilbert pitched a scoreless seventh.Trehey walked two but did not allow a hit in his third appearance of the week.Each team made three errors. WHAT’S NEXT The Owls will visit Coral Gables for the first time this season to take on Miami at 6 p.m. on Tuesday. THE TICKETS To 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. |
