| Florida Atlantic vs. UTSA | Pete Taylor Park | |
| Game Details | C-USA Postseason Tournament, Day One, Game Four | Hattiesburg, Miss. | Wednesday May 25, 2022 |
| Game Coverage | Live Stats HERE; Watch Live HERE; Listen Live HERE |
| Starting Pitchers | FAU — Hunter Cooley (LHP) vs. UTSA Braylon Owens (RHP) |
| FAU Links | News | Roster | Schedule | Stats |
| UTSA Links | News | Roster | Schedule | Stats |
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The Florida Atlantic University baseball team (34-21, 19-11 C-USA) begins postseason play on Wednesday with a matchup against the Roadrunners of UTSA (35-19, 19-11 C-USA) in the Conference USA Tournament. The Owls are the four-seed in the double elimination tournament. Southern Miss. and UAB are the other two teams on FAU’s side of the bracket. The Owls and Roadrunners will play the final game of the tournament’s opening day. The full bracket can be viewed here.
OWLS IN REVIEW
The Owls are coming off a sweep of Marshall to close the regular season. FAU hit 12 home runs in the three-game series which concluded on Saturday afternoon.
The Owls came from behind in each of the first two games of the series. In game two on Friday, they trailed 6-0 after two innings and 11-8 after seven. An offensive explosion in the eighth inning saved the day, however. Home runs from Gabriel Rincones, Jr., Dylan Goldstein (his second of the day), and Jackson Ross turned the three-run deficit into a 14-12 lead. Jacob Josey would enter in the bottom of the eighth and hold the Thundering Herd off the board to preserve the win.
Saturday’s regular season finale was much more comfortable down the stretch as the Owls racked up 16 hits in route to an 11-1 win. Nicholas Del Prado threw a complete game with one run, five hits, and two walks. He struck out a career-high 10 batters. Del Prado was awarded C-USA Pitcher of the Week on Monday.
On Tuesday, Conference USA released its all-conference and superlative awards. Gabriel Rincones, Jr. was named C-USA Newcomer of the Year as well as first team all-conference. Nolan Schanuel joined Rincones on the first team. Hunter Cooley and Dylan Goldstein were named to the second team.
THE OWLS’ OPPONENT
UTSA tied FAU with a 19-11 C-USA record, but the Owls won the head-to-head tiebreaker by taking two of three from the Roadrunners in late March. UTSA closed the regular season by taking two of three from UAB at home.
Offensively, Ian Bailey led the way with 15 home runs while Ryan Flores drove in 49 runs. The Roadrunners had seven players hit over .300 in the regular season.
From the pitching perspective, UTSA will have righthander Braylon Owens make his second start of the season. The freshman threw 4.1 in relief in Friday’s 7-2 win over UAB. His last start was on February 20 against Tarleton State. He allowed seven runs in one-third of an inning.
PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS
Wednesday | FAU — Hunter Cooley (LHP) (8-4, 4.78 ERA) vs. UTSA – Braylon Owens (RHP) (3-1, 4.76 ERA)
OPPONENT HISTORY
When FAU and UTSA met for the first time in Boca Raton back in late March, the Roadrunners took the opener by a 5-4 final. The Owls rallied back for a 12-9 win on Saturday and won the series with an 8-4 victory on Sunday. Nolan Schanuel went 5-for-11 in the three games with two home runs. Dylan Goldstein also homered twice and drove in six runs. Jacob Josey pitched in relief of Tyler Burnham on Sunday and allowed just one run in six innings.
OWLS’ BASEBALL ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Follow along with the team on Twitter @FAUBaseball, on Instagram and “like” FAU baseball on Facebook.
AFTER THIS
The Owls will play either UAB or Southern Miss. on Thursday. A win over UTSA would put FAU in the 8:30 pm slot again. With a loss, they would play an elimination game at 5 pm.
