BOCA RATON, Fla. – Florida Atlantic baseball (18-19, 5-8) took the series opener over Tulane (20-19, 6-7) 11-3 on Friday night at the FAU Baseball Stadium. Senior third baseman
Nick Romano had a career high seven RBI.
THE BEGINNING
Romano's big night began in the third inning with a three-run home run to open the scoring. On the other side, sophomore starter
James Litman retired the Green Wave in order in the first and second innings and worked around a two-out hit in the third.
It was 3-1 in the sixth when
John Martinez took the first pitch he saw and launched it over the left field fence. The Owls would proceed to send eight batters to the plate in a long inning in which they came away with one more run, a bases-loaded walk drawn by Romano.
THE TURNING POINT
Tulane continued to linger, scoring a run in the seventh to make it a 5-2 game. The Owls finally broke the game open with five runs in the bottom of the frame. With the bases loaded again and
Marshall Lipsey at the plate, Martinez made a break from third base and stole home. After Lipsey walked to reload the bases, Romano brought everyone home with a rope double off the right field wall.
Michael Perazza followed suit with another double to drive in Romano and put the Owls up 10-2.
THE FINISH
Martinez added an RBI double in the eighth to complete the scoring.
Tyler Murphy handled the final two innings on the mound to guide the Owls to a series-opening victory.
QUOTABLE
Head Coach John McCormack
THE BATS
- Romano finished the night 2-for-5. He came up just two shy of tying the program's single-game RBI record (9).
- Martinez homered for the second consecutive game and tacked on two RBI to his team-leading total (29).
- With five doubles and two home runs, the Owls set a new season-high in extra-base hits.
- After recording three tackles in the football spring game, Kyle Boylston made his way to the baseball stadium and entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning.
- Boylston was hit by a pitch, singled, and scored a run in two at-bats.
THE ARMS
- Litman improved to 6-3 on the season with six solid innings.
- The sophomore allowed one run on three hits. He struck out four and walked three.
- Zach Kilby pitched the seventh before handing it off to Patrick Ward to start the eighth.
- Murphy struck out three of the seven batters he faced.
WHAT'S NEXT
The Owls will look to clinch the series on Saturday at 4 p.m.
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