Florida Atlantic (31-16, 12-9 AAC) hit the road once more as the Owls squared off against Tulane (28-20, 11-10 AAC). In a series full of offense, rain, and exciting plays, FAU took Games One and Two clinching the weekend on Saturday.
Game One
Both teams opened the contest with one-run-apiece in the first inning. During the top of the second, FAU put up five more runs giving the Owls a 6-1 advantage before a weather delay stopped the contest for two-hours and 35-minutes. In the remainder of the frame Nick Romano hit a grand slam giving the Owls a 10-1 lead heading into the bottom half of the second inning.
There, Tulane responded with seven unanswered runs in the second and third as the Green Wave trailed 10-8.
In the fifth, FAU plated six more runs, but Tulane scored four of their own. Leading 16-12 in the sixth, weather stopped the game until it resumed on Saturday.
The last four-innings went scoreless as Carter Holjes and MJ Bollinger did their jobs and helped in the Owls 16-12 victory.
Game Two
After the Owls win in Game One, it seems the bats were going to stay quiet.
Entering the fifth inning, Tulane led 7-1. During the top-half of that inning, Florida Atlantic scored two runs thanks to Danny Baez and Marshall Lipsey scoring in the fifth. In the sixth, a two-run blast from Emilio Gonzalez had FAU trailing by three, 8-5.
The eighth inning is where the Owls turned a season’s narrative around. In games where Florida Atlantic trailed entering the eighth inning the Owls lost every time. On Saturday night though, a five-run top-eighth turned the story around.
Thanks to clutch two-out hitting from Lipsey and John Martinez, John Schroeder came to bat with the bases loaded. On the 1-1 pitch the Senior outfielder sent one straight to the left field light pole giving FAU a 9-8 lead. Jake Millan hit an RBI single giving the Owls a 10-8 advantage.
Trey Beard came in to close the game after pitching only one inning on Sunday. Beard earned his first career save and his 100th strikeout on the season in the same night in Florida Atlantic’s 10-8 win.
SP Tyler Murphy allowed four runs off five hits and struck out one.
Game Three
It seemed all the offense FAU had mustered up during the series had ran out in game three. Tulane led 6-0 entering the sixth. There the Owls scored a run thanks to a Martinez groundout RBI.
The next inning Florida Atlantic scored three more runs thanks to Carter Brady, Lipsey, and Marshall’s RBIs each. Trailing by only two, FAU entered the eighth and put on two runners immediately. Sadly, the runners were stranded, and the Owls last true hope of scoring runs went silently.
The Owls fell 6-4.
SP James Litman allowed three runs off of five hits and struck out two.
Series Notables
Entering the weekend, both teams were top three in the conference in batting. Well, the numbers did not change, if anything the bats were juiced. Florida Atlantic slashed .350/.437/.479 while the Green Wave put up .336/.471/.439. Remember that .300 batting average line? The Owls are now back to that number at .300.
Out of the 12 FAU players that appeared in a game over the weekend, nine Owls hit an RBI. Schroeder and Romano led the way with both hitting seven RBIs each.
Five batters started all three games and hit above .300 for FAU. Three of those men are Romano, Schroeder, and Lipsey.
The other two are Brando Leroux and John Martinez.
Leroux had a .600 OBP and hit .538 during the series. An oddity for a player that got on base as much as the shortstop, he only came across once as a run, but hit three RBI. Leroux batted in the cleanup spot on Friday night, while he was in the five hole on Saturday and Sunday. Understandably his reliance on those behind him scoring did not show. If there is any takeaway from the offense it is the bottom half of the lineup advancing/scoring runners.
Martinez had seven hits including a double during the series. He scored five times, the most out of any Owl. The numbers are consistent with his season production as the Redshirt Freshman has a .326 average on the year. During the weekend his numbers were .412. The infielder did have four strikeouts and did not earn a walk. While the batting average was great over the weekend, a couple of more patient at bats could have helped Martinez get on base more. Keep in mind that those type of complaints only come from playing so well.
On the mound, FAU had a poor showing allowing a combined 7.96 ERA over the weekend. Florida Atlantic allowing an over .330 batting average is not a good sign, but do keep in mind a late night, 13 innings in one day, and a reliance on a high powered offense can take some stress of the bullpen. No pitcher went more than 3.1 IP.
That pitcher was MJ Bollinger, who appeared twice, allowing only two hits and one walk. Bollinger’s opponent average also sat at .182. The reliever has put up phenomenal numbers this season and with two AAC series left on the year, any close contest will require the transfer sophomore’s arm.
Look Ahead
Florida Atlantic will be home for a final five-game stand with FGCU coming to Paradise on Tuesday at 6:30.
It will be a big final two weeks as FAU controls their own destiny in claiming the number 2 seed for the AAC tournament.