| 4/30/2024 | Baseball | Box Score GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida Atlantic baseball went toe-to-toe with Florida on Tuesday night but ultimately fell short in a 10-8 defeat. THE BEGINNING The Owls struck first with two runs in the opening half inning. RBI singles by Christian Adams and Andrew McKenna opened the scoring but Florida responded with three runs of their own in the bottom of the frame.The Gators led 5-2 in the fourth when a John Schroeder triple ricocheted off the left field wall bringing two runs home. Again though, Florida maintained distance with a three-run fifth inning. THE TURNING POINT/THE FINISH An RBI double from Schroeder and single from Daulton Frank in the sixth cut the deficit to 8-6. Florida tacked on insurance runs in the seventh and eighth and the Owls entered the ninth down 10-6.The final frame began with a pinch-hit single from Nick Garagozzo and a walk drawn by Emilio Gonzalez. An RBI single by Spencer Rich and a sacrifice fly by Joey Slattery made it 10-8. The Owls had the bases loaded with one out but Schroeder’s hard-hit ball to the right side was turned for a game-ending double play. QUOTABLE Head coach John McCormack “Too many missed opportunities… chances to get out of innings on the mound and we didn’t and we had chances to tack on a run here or there and we didn’t. The guys kept fighting though, all night. Some guys had really good nights offensively. We made some plays defensively. Just not enough though. Against a good team like Florida, you can’t play okay. You have to play well in all aspects of the game.” THE BATS Florida Atlantic outhit Florida 14-11.Five different Owls finished with multi-hit games led by McKenna who posted a 3-for-5 line. Schroeder finished 2-for-6 with a triple, double, and three RBI. He also took a potential home run away from UF’s Jac Caglianone with a leaping catch in right field. THE ARMS The Owls used eight different pitchers starting with Dawson Ball who made his first career start.Of the eight, only Tyler Murphy recorded a 1-2-3 inning.Ben Gilbert and Max Martzolf also held the Gators scoreless. Gilbert walked one and struck out one. Martzolf recorded a three-pitch strikeout to the only batter he faced. WHAT’S NEXT The Owls return to Boca Raton to start a five-game homestand on Friday night. First pitch against UAB is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. 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. |
