What: Florida Atlantic vs Tulane
When: May 2nd @ 7:30 PM | May 3rd @ 7:30 PM | May 4th @ 1:00 PM
Where: Greer Field at Turchin Stadium
Video: ESPN+
Stats: Stats Broadcast
FAU – LHP Trey Beard (7-0, 2.48 ERA)
Tulane – LHP Luc Fladda (3-4, 5.97 ERA)
FAU – RHP Tyler Murphy (4-2, 4.78 ERA)
Tulane – RHP Trey Cehajic (4-2, 5.36 ERA)
FAU – RHP James Litman (3-2, 4.93 ERA)
Tulane – TBA
Owls Notables
After the Owls dropped the series against Charlotte, Florida Atlantic (29-15, 10-8 AAC) took care of FIU on Tuesday. With FAU’s 5-2 victory, the Owls earned their ninth series win on the season. That is now three more than Florida Atlantic’s total in 2024. There are still three more weekend series and a season series against FGCU left to complete.
This weekend though, it is another major AAC battle. 2nd – 6th place in the conference is within two games of one another. The Owls and the Green Wave are in the middle of the hunt at four and five respectively.
Florida Atlantic enters the series batting under .300 for the first time this season. The poor showing offensively against the 49ers did not help the numbers. However, FAU is still second in the American in BA at .296. The Owls remain second in the conference in SLG (.460) and OBP (.398) as well.
Four bats from Florida Atlantic are in the top 20 in the American in batting average. Two of those players, Marshall Lipsey and John Martinez put on solid showings in the series loss last week.
Martinez hit a home run, his second of the season and had a hit in each game last weekend. Not known for his power, the home run was Martinez’s second of the season. With how often Lipsey gets on base (.505 OBP), the Redshirt Freshman’s role in two hole has always been crucial. It guarantees a runner in scoring position. If he can keep that work up, the Owls should have no issue relying on the .317 batting INF.
On the other hand is catcher Ayden Garcia. Garcia had one hit in his 10 at bats over the weekend. On the year, the Jr. transfer is batting .260 with a .444 OBP. Before his time at the D1 level, the California native hit .340 and boasted a .998 OPS at Golden West College.
His performance is there, but a step up in productive at bats would help the Owls. This is especially important after the losses of Jake Duer and Pat Ward.
Florida Atlantic is the top team in the conference in ERA thanks to their 4.37 ERA. The series loss last weekend has no fault on the arms who allowed an average of four runs per game. The Friday game is important concerning the record books as Trey Beard is looking to achieve the 100 strikeouts mark. The last Owl to do so in a season was Austin Gomber in 2013.
Coach McCormac’s starters are expected to remain the same as last weekend. The defense performed well as always. However, a week can always be the difference between a bad and great performance at the plate.
Projected Starters
C Ayden Garcia/Dylan LaPointe (Alternating Starts)
1B Jake Millan
2B John Martinez
SS Brando Leroux
3B Nick Romano
RF Danny Baez
CF Marshall Lipsey
LF John Schroeder
FAU will next play host to FGCU in the third game of the season series.
Tulane Notables
The Green Wave (27-18, 10-8) are coming off a series victory over East Carolina. This included a 20-5 throttling over the Pirates.
Tulane bats are hot and it shows thanks to their slash line of .277/.440/.389. Those numbers put Tulane third in the conference in offensive production.
Opposite of the bats, the arms have produced a 6.07 ERA. While third to last in the AAC, it is the worst among teams with a winning record. It does not help when opponents are batting .263 against the arms.
Four batters have a batting average exceeding the .300 mark. The list includes Connor Rasmussen. The Junior infielder leads the Green Wave in batting average (.329) and RBIs (34). Right behind Rasmussen is Redshirt Senior Matthias Haas. He owns a .318 BA and has 33 RBIs. The team’s home run leader is Tanner Chun with eight.