Florida Atlantic baseball defeated the University of Central Florida 9-4 Tuesday night in West Palm Beach after a heavy scoring burst early in the game put them ahead for good.

“It was the key to the whole game, getting ahead and not letting them think they had any chance,” senior Austin Langham said. “We just kept at it and kept scoring runs.”

The Owls opened the scoring when redshirt senior Jared Schouppe reached home from a hit by redshirt junior David Miranda to center field. After the Knights tied the game in the second inning, the Owls took full control of the game in the bottom of the second.

Langham drove in senior Sean Labsan and freshman Eric Rivera to give the Owls a 3-1 lead. Despite seeing their advantage cut by one in the third on a failed pick-off attempt, FAU never surrendered the lead again.

The Owls would score four times at the bottom of the third and twice more in the sixth while holding the Knights to just two runs for the rest of the game to seal the win.

Langham and junior Kevin Abraham each went 2-for-4 with two RBIs on the night.

The Owls used six different pitchers on the night and none of them allowed more than three hits.

FAU head coach John McCormack said he would welcome the opportunity to play the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches a few more times next season after the Owls finished this season 2-0 there.

“We love [playing here],” McCormack said. “We scored 22 runs here and only gave up 5. [Playing here] next season is up to the power guys down in Boca Raton, I don’t really have much say over that. I know there’s a financial burden playing here that the university absorbs so that would be up to the guys down there how much we play here again next season.”

FAU will now close out its regular season with a series at home this weekend versus Old Dominion University starting on Thursday, May 18 at 6:30 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_.