In game one of the double-elimination first round of the Athens Regional, the FAU Owls fall to the Florida State Seminoles, 13-7.

While the Owls had a solid offensive day, the pitching was easily the weakest point which started in the top of the second inning where the Seminoles scored five runs. Blake Sanderson got the start in today’s game and pitched a less than stellar game, collecting the loss. While getting out of a jam in the first inning, he had a disastrous second inning as mentioned before, he struck out three, gave up four earned runs across five innings.

The rest of the pitching staff didn’t help either as pitchers like Dylan O’Connell, Vince Coletti and Michael Schuler each had two earned runs.

However, looking at the positives, the offense played well as right fielder Bobby Morgensen had a three-hit day while two were home runs in the fourth and in the seventh. Joe Montes also got in on the fun as he homered to center field in the fifth inning.

The Owls always kept it close throughout the game once trailing by three runs. But FSU’s hit count of 20 compared to FAU’s nine was too much to handle. If they want to be competitive in the tournament, their pitching needs to improve.

“You know, it’s an offensive game. It’s no secret we needed to pitch better,” head coach John McCormack told FAUSports.com. “Credit to Florida State hitters, they did a really nice job. The wind, they used the elements, we used the elements. We just have to pitch better.

FAU will look to bounce back in tomorrow’s game at 1:00 p.m. eastern as they await the loser in Georgia-Mercer later tonight. One thing to note is that if they lose tomorrow’s matchup, they will be officially eliminated since it’s double elimination.

Zachary Weinberger is the sports editor of the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet him @ZachWeinberger