Owls Held in Check in Series Opener with ECU

Thursday, May 14

Boca Raton, Fla.

6:30 p.m.

Florida Atlantic

28-25, 12-13

East Carolina

31-21-1, 31-21-1

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
East Carolina	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	3	7	13	2
Florida Atlantic	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	5	8	0

James Litman

5/14/2026 11:41:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

BOCA RATON, Fla. – A ninth-inning comeback attempt fell just short for Florida Atlantic baseball on Thursday against East Carolina. The Pirates (31-21-1, 15-10) held off the Owls (28-25, 12-13) by a 7-5 final. Despite the defeat, the Owls clinched a place in next week's American Conference Tournament thanks to Rice's win over Tulane.

THE BEGINNING
The first five innings on Thursday were a pitcher's duel between FAU's James Litman and ECU's Ryan Towers. Each allowed just one run in five innings of work. Towers conceded just three hits compared to five for Litman.

The Pirates finally broke through against Owls' reliever Zach Kilby in the sixth. After two consecutive hits to start the inning, ECU executed a squeeze bunt to score the go-ahead run from third base.

THE TURNING POINT
ECU tagged Kilby for a two-run home run in the eighth inning to lead 4-1. The Owls' offense cut the deficit back to one in the ensuing half-inning. Brett Patten dropped an RBI double in left-center field to score Michael Perazza. Later in the inning, with Patten and John Martinez at the corners and two away, the Owls executed a steal of home. Martinez took off for second and intentionally got caught in a rundown. As he did, Patten broke for home to score the run before Martinez was tagged out.

The Pirates loaded the bases in the top of the ninth, and pinch-hitter Michael Kalinich lined a two-run double to left field. They would add one more insurance run on a groundout.

THE FINISH
The Owls didn't go quietly in the bottom of the ninth. FAU loaded the bases with only one away after a pair of singles from Patrick Ward and Kyle Boylston, and a walk to Brando Leroux. Nick Romano's sacrifice fly made it 7-4. Perazza drove in Leroux with a line drive off the first base bag that caromed over the head of the ECU first baseman. However, that would be where the comeback ended, as Ian Collier was retired with the tying run at first base.

THE BATS

Perazza finished with a career-high four hits, accounting for half of the Owls' total for the night.
Romano walked and was hit by a pitch to extend his reached-base streak to 23 games. His ninth-inning RBI was his 34th of the season.

THE ARMS

Litman struck out four and walked two in five innings of work.
Brayden Gilson and Garrett Grant backed up Kilby out of the bullpen. Gilson allowed one run, and Grant conceded two.

WHAT'S NEXT
The Owls will look to even the series at 6:35 p.m. on Friday. Senior night begins at 5:45 p.m. It's also the final $1 hot dog/$2 beet night of the season at the FAU Baseball Stadium.

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