Rally Falls Just Short for Owls in Series Finale

Sunday, April 26

Boca Raton, Fla.

12 p.m.

Florida Atlantic

21-22, 8-10

Charlotte

20-23, 5-13

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Charlotte	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	1	5	11	2
Florida Atlantic	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	2	4	9	0

Nick Romano

4/26/2026 6:02:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

BOCA RATON, Fla. – Florida Atlantic baseball (21-22, 8-10) dropped the series finale with Charlotte (20-23, 5-13) by a 5-4 final on Sunday afternoon. The Owls remain locked in a four-way tie for fifth place in the American Conference with nine league games remaining.

THE BEGINNING
Charlotte took the lead in the first inning against Owls' freshman Garrett Grant. A leadoff single, a hit batter, and two walks spelled an early end to Grant's afternoon. Brayden Gilson came on in relief and limited the damage to two runs.

It took the Owls until the fourth inning to record their first hit against 49ers' starter Eddie Copper. They finally tagged Copper for two runs in the fifth. A two-out double by Nick Romano drove in Brando Leroux to make it 2-1. With Romano on third, Michael Perazza's ground ball to second should have been the third out, but it snuck under the glove of Charlotte's Adrian Jimenez. Romano scored to tie the game.

THE TURNING POINT
Florida Atlantic had an opportunity to take the lead in the sixth with two on and one out, but they were unable to cash in. Conversely, Charlotte took advantage of its opportunity in the seventh after a leadoff double and a single. An RBI groundout gave the 49ers the lead back, and a sacrifice fly made it 4-2.

THE FINISH
Charlotte added an insurance run in the ninth, and it would prove to be the difference. Romano launched a two-run homer to make it a 5-4 game. Perazza singled, and Ian Collier reached on another Charlotte error. The Owls had the tying run in scoring position, but back-to-back strikeouts put an end to the rally.

QUOTABLE
Head Coach John McCormack
"We needed to get off to a better start today. We had opportunities in the first and sixth innings and got nothing out of it. All in all, though, it was still a good weekend. We won two out of three. We battled hard. We just have to get off to a better start and be better at making adjustments early."

THE BATS

Romano finished 2-for-4 with three RBI, including his fifth home run of the season.
Collier and Patrick Ward also recorded multi-hit games.

THE ARMS

With Grant exiting after a third of an inning, the Owls used six relievers.
Gilson provided 3.2 scoreless frames.
Reilly Witmer pitched a clean fifth inning.
Ward started and finished the game at first base. He also pitched an inning, coming in for the last two outs of the sixth and the first out of the seventh.
Kyzer Smith relieved Ward for the final two outs in the seventh and conceded a run.
Carson Kimball held the 49ers scoreless in the eighth inning.
Tyler Murphy allowed two hits and a run in the ninth.

WHAT'S NEXT
The Owls visit Fort Myers for the first time this season on Tuesday for a matchup with Florida Gulf Coast at 6:30 p.m.

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