The FAU Owls baseball team (14-8, 1-2 C-USA) lost 7-1 to the University of Miami Hurricanes (14-6, 4-2 ACC) Wednesday night in Boca Raton, Fla.

This is the Owls’ second loss to Miami this season. They fell 9-1 in the Feb. 23 matchup on the road in Coral Gables.

“We made some plays, the guys played with energy, we just have to capitalize,” said head coach John McCormack. “Against a good team, you can’t keep giving them second opportunities and we did it all night. And when we had a chance to score, we didn’t.”

The Hurricanes took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, scoring on a throwing error by sophomore catcher Caleb Pendleton.

In the top of the fourth, sophomore right-hander Nicolas Del Prado, who got the start for FAU, saw his night end as redshirt sophomore right-hander Marc DeGusipe came out of the bullpen. Del Prado threw 66 pitches in 3 1/3 innings and allowed one run and one hit. 

At the bottom of the fourth, junior third baseman Jackson Ross hit an RBI double down the right field line, scoring the runner from first and tying the game at one apiece. 

DeGusipe held the Hurricanes scoreless through three innings before sophomore left-hander Evan Waterbor replaced him on the mound in the top of the seventh.

Waterbor allowed three runs in the seventh on an RBI double and an RBI single giving Miami a 4-1 lead. 

After throwing 23 pitches and allowing three runs on four hits, Waterbor’s night came to an end as redshirt senior right-hander Brock Helverson took the mound in the top of the eighth inning. 

Miami added another run in the top of the eighth inning on an RBI single up the middle moving their lead to 5-1. 

In the top of the ninth, the Hurricanes extended their lead to 7-1 on a two-run homer to right field with no answer from the Owls in the bottom half, leaving the score 7-1 at the end of the game.

“I don’t want to say we deserved to win the game, but we should’ve manufactured a better outcome for ourselves. We had the opportunities,” McCormack said.  

The Owls will now prepare for a three-game conference series against the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) Roadrunners. The series will begin Friday, March 25, and end Sunday, March 27. C-USA TV will broadcast all three games.

Cameron Priester is a staff writer for the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet him @PriesterCameron.