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lorida Atlantic baseball defeated Rice University twice in its three game series this weekend.

With the team’s second victory, head baseball coach John McCormack picked up his 300th win with FAU baseball. He now ranks second all-time in program history to Kevin Cooney, who earned 748 wins in 21 seasons with the team.

Here’s a recap of each game:

Game one: Rice 2, FAU 3

Rice (9-21, 2-7 Conference USA) loaded the bases with nobody out in the first inning, but only scored one run, on a double-play groundout. They added another in the third with back-to-back doubles, for a 2-0 early lead.

However, sophomore Tyler Frank singled on the first pitch in the home half of the third, and two batters later, redshirt senior Esteban Puerta rocketed a home run to left to tie the game at two.

The game winning run by FAU (18-8, 7-2 Conference USA) came without a single hit. Frank was hit by a pitch to lead things off, followed by a walk to redshirt senior Jared Shouppe.

Puerta moved Frank to third with a flyout to right, and redshirt junior David Miranda scored him with a groundout to second. Redshirt junior Drew Peden, redshirt sophomore Weston Clemente, sophomore Kyle Marman and freshman Cameron Ragsdale combined for 3 2/3 innings of two-hit scoreless baseball to seal the deal.

Junior pitcher Alex House moved to 4-1 on the season, allowing only five hits and two runs in 5 1/3 innings.

Game two: Rice 5, FAU 4

After falling behind 3-0, FAU was able to tie the game up at the bottom of the fourth. With two on and one out, Stephen Kerr doubled to score Puerta, while a sacrifice fly by freshman Pedro Pages knocked in Miranda to bring the home team within a run.

A two-out single up the middle by Jordan Poore pushed Kerr across the plate to tie it up at three.

Rice took the lead once more, but FAU was able to draw even again. In the seventh, Eric Rivera reached via a leadoff hit-by-pitch and moved to second on a wild pitch. Jared Shouppe then tied the game up at four with an opposite-field double to left.

But in the top of the ninth, a one-out single by Rice’s Ryan Chandler knocked in what proved to be the game-winning run. Although Tyler Frank singled with one out in the home ninth, Otto stranded him there with a strikeout and flyout to close out the win.

No Owl had more than one hit, though Puerta was walked three times and senior Austin Langham drew two.

Game three: FAU 8, Rice 2

FAU took a 3-0 lead in third when Shouppe hit a three-run home run to left field. Rice’s Dominic Dicaprio immediately answered back with a home run of his own, scoring two runs to cut the lead to 3-2.

After Langham singled to right center and scored senior Stephen Kerr to score, FAU’s offense would explode in the bottom of the seventh with three runs to extend its lead even further. Redshirt senior Kevin Abraham, Poore and Frank each scored a run in the inning.

The Owls would add one more run in the bottom of the eighth, when Poore singled one to middle, allowing Abraham to score.

Seven of the ten players at-bat for FAU recorded a hit. Junior pitcher Jake Miednik allowed only three hits in seven innings of work.

FAU will now host the University of Central Florida on Wednesday, April 2 at 6:00 p.m.

Hans Belot Jr. is the sports editor of the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet him at @Don_Phenom_.