Owls Fall to Tulane on Day One of AAC Tournament

Tuesday, May 20

Clearwater, Fla. / Baycare Ballpark

9 a.m.

Florida Atlantic

36-20

Tulane

31-24

Tulane

Florida Atlantic

Photo by: Connor Kvatek/AAC

5/20/2025 5:15:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Championship Central

CLEARWATER, Fla. – A ninth inning rally by Florida Atlantic baseball fell short on Tuesday in a 6-3 defeat at the hands of Tulane. The Owls will play Rice in an elimination game at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, May 21.

THE BEGINNING
The Owls opened the scoring with two hits in the bottom of the second inning. Nick Romano led off with a single and scored on a two-out double off the wall from Dylan LaPointe. Tulane tied the game in the third inning and took a 2-1 lead in the fourth.

THE TURNING POINT
Tulane pushed across three more runs in a long fifth inning. After back-to-back two-out singles and a pair of walks forced across a run, Nick Romano snagged a hard-hit ground ball to third base. On the ensuing throw, Romano short-hopped first baseman Jake Millan and it trickled away, allowing two runs to score to make it 5-1 Green Wave.

On the other side, the Owls could not solve Tulane starter Michael Lombardi after the two hits in the second inning. The AAC leader in saves struck out 11 in seven innings of work – the longest start of his career.

THE FINISH
Trailing 6-1 entering the bottom of the ninth, the Owls rallied with two runs and had the game-winning run at the plate. Romano (RBI single) and LaPointe (bases-loaded walk) were once again the run producers. But the comeback ultimately fell short as Tulane's Taylor Montiel struck out Ayden Garcia with the bases loaded to end the game.

THE BATS

The Owls finished with five hits, led by two from Romano.
Marshall Lipsey's ninth-inning double was the Owls' first hit since LaPointe's double in the second inning.

THE ARMS

Beard took his first loss of the season to fall to 7-1.
The sophomore allowed four earned runs in six innings. He struck out five and walked three.
Kide Adetuyi pitched a clean seventh inning.
Braden Ostrander allowed a solo home run in the ninth for the only blemish in his two innings of work.

WHAT'S NEXT
The Owls will match up with Rice on Wednesday, May 21, in an elimination game. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. on ESPN+.