Baseball: FAU swept in series at Southern Mississippi

The Owls twice lost in walk-off fashion.

Senior Sean Labsean waits for the pitch during the Owls game versus the University of Miami on March 1. Ryan Lynch | Business Manager

Hans Belot Jr., Sports Editor

Florida Atlantic baseball dropped all three of its games at Southern Mississippi over the weekend, with two of those coming off walk-off runs.

Here’s a recap of each game:

Game one: FAU 2, Southern Miss 11

After a 1-2-3 first, the Golden Eagles rebounded in the second, including six straight batters reaching base in a row, including five with hits. They added another run in the fourth for a 7-0 lead.

The Owls got both their runs on the same play in the top of the eighth. They loaded the bases with nobody out and redshirt junior David Miranda grounded into a fielder’s choice to score redshirt junior Kevin Abraham, while an error on the play brought redshirt junior Jordan Poore in to make it 7-2.

However, Southern Miss got out of the inning with no further damage and added on with four more runs of their own in the bottom half to seal the win.

Frank and senior Austin Langham each had two hits, including a double each. Frank also reached a third time when he was hit by a pitch.

Senior Sean Labsan pitched two innings of scoreless relief, allowing just one hit while striking out a batter.

Game two: FAU 5, Southern Miss 6

Southern Miss scored the first four runs of the game, shutting out the Owls until a home run by redshirt junior Jared Schouppe in the seventh started a potential comeback.

In the frame, Southern Miss’ pitcher Nick Sandlin had a stretch where he hit four out of five Owls with pitches, twice with the bases loaded to force two runs across. Sophomore Tyler Frank then singled in two more runs with two outs for a 5-4 advantage.

The Golden Eagles were down to their final strike with a runner at second and two outs in the home ninth when Mason Irby lined a single to right field. The tying run scored on the play and a fielding error allowed Irby to go all the way to third.

Irby then scored on a wild pitch to the next batter for a walk off victory.

Shouppe had a 2-for-4 game with two runs scored, and Frank added two RBIs.

Game three: FAU 4, Southern Miss 5

The Golden Eagles led 2-0 after the eighth, but FAU rallied back in the ninth. Schouppe and Miranda each had a solo home run to right field to tie the game at two.

In the 11th, a sacrifice fly by senior Stephen Kerr scored Schouppe, while redshirt Poore’s third hit on an RBI double extended the lead to 4-2.

However, at the bottom of the same inning, Southern Miss tied the game at four, and for the second straight game the Golden Eagles scored a walk-off to win the game.

Dylan Burdeaux would hit one left field, allowing LeeMarcus Boyd to tie the game and Slater to win it all.

Poore and Schouppe each went 2-for-4 at the plate.

FAU will now visit Western Kentucky University in its last away conference series. Game one is set to begin on Friday, May 12 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_.