Owls Drop Seesaw Battle with UNF

Wednesday, February 28

Boca Raton, Fla.

6:30 p.m.

Florida Atlantic

4-4

UNF

5-3

UNF

Florida Atlantic

Photo by: JC Ridley

2/28/2024 11:13:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

BOCA RATON, Fla. – Florida Atlantic baseball let a ninth inning lead slip away, falling 8-6 to North Florida on Wednesday night.

THE BEGINNING

John Schroeder opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly in the first inning to score Spencer Rich. Meanwhile, Zach Abbey made his first start on the mound and worked through the UNF lineup in order in the first three innings. Abbey ran into some trouble in the fourth however, and the Ospreys came away with four runs.

THE TURNING POINT

The Owls responded in the bottom of the fourth with a two-run homer from freshman Emilio Gonzalez. They would tie it in the sixth when Carter Brady singled to score Brando Leroux.
UNF got a sac fly in the eighth to make it 5-4 but Ben Gilbert worked out of a jam and kept the deficit at just one. In the bottom of the frame, it was Brady again who came through in the clutch. This time, the junior's first home run as an Owl made it a 6-5 game going into the top of the ninth.

THE FINISH

Dawson Ball came on to try and earn the save in the ninth but the frame started walk, single, error to load the bases. With one out, a wild pitch got past catcher Schroeder and the tying run came across. Another base hit followed to score two runs.

The Owls put two on in the bottom of the ninth but ultimately could not cash in.

QUOTABLE

Head coach John McCormack
"I'm very disappointed in everything. All facets of the game. We didn't pitch. We didn't make the plays when we had to. We had plenty of opportunities. We scored six, we could've scored eight, nine, or 10 just by putting the ball in play. Very disappointing."

THE ARMS

Abbey struck out three, allowed two hits, and two runs.
Justin Gay was first out of the bullpen and recorded two outs in the fourth.
Danny Trehey and Dylan Oborne combined for six strikeouts in 3.1 innings, holding the Ospreys scoreless in the fifth, sixth, and seventh.
Kyle Beaty and Gilbert combined in the eighth.

THE BATS

The Owls out-hit the Ospreys 11-8 led by three hit nights from Leroux and Adams. Leroux also scored three runs.
Brady finished 2-for-4 with three RBI.
Gonzalez tallied the first home run of his career in a 2-for-5 night.

WHAT'S NEXT

The Owls host Stonehill for a three-game series beginning Friday at 6:30 p.m.

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.