The FAU Owls baseball team (26-16, 11-7 C-USA) beat the Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) Eagles (26-15, 11-7 ASUN) on Tuesday night in Boca Raton, Fla.

The Owls jumped to an early 5-0 lead in the first inning, as 10 batters made a plate appearance. Sophomore shortstop Armando Albert singled to right field and advanced to third on a throwing error by the pitcher, and sophomore right-fielder Gabriel Rincones Jr. grounded into an RBI fielder’s choice for the first run. 

“It was nice, but still we haven’t been able to put ourselves in that situation and really put a statement on an inning like that,” head coach John McCormack said in regards to the early scoring. “We kind of let them off the hook [with] five runs with one out and [we] didn’t get that statement double, but I thought it was an average offensive performance.” 

Sophomore first baseman Nolan Schanuel fired a double into right field and stole third base, sophomore left-fielder Dylan Goldstein grounded an RBI single and stole second base, junior third baseman Jackson Ross walked, redshirt sophomore second baseman Steven Loden walked to load the bases, and graduate designated hitter Tyler Kelder chopped an infield single to increase FAU’s lead to 3-0.

With the bases loaded, sophomore catcher Caleb Pendleton tapped a two-RBI single into shallow center field. 

FGCU answered with a run in the top of the second inning. Junior third baseman Alejandro Rodriguez and senior second baseman Logan Satori both singled and advanced on a throwing error by Albert, and sophomore catcher Mac Moise hit a sacrifice fly to deep right field.

Goldstein homered to left-center field in the bottom of the second inning to increase the Owls’ lead to 6-1. 

Sophomore left-hander Marc DeGusipe took the mound in the third inning in relief of freshman right-handed pitcher Bryan Boully. Boully threw 43 pitches across two innings and yielded a run on a hit and a walk. 

DeGusipe took a seat after recording one out in the fifth inning, as sophomore right-hander Hayden Compton took over the hill. DeGusipe finished with 40 pitches across 4 ⅓ innings and he earned a run on three walks. 

Compton was relieved after walking the first two batters he faced which loaded the bases. He was charged with two runs. Sophomore southpaw Sam Drumheller entered in relief.

The Eagles slimmed FAU’s lead in the fifth inning by plating three runs. Junior center-fielder Brian Ellis walked and advanced to second via a wild pitch, sophomore left-fielder Ian Farrow was hit by a pitch, junior first baseman Joe Kinker walked, and junior designated hitter Alejandro Figueredo walked for the first run. Rodriguez singled for another run and freshman right-fielder Harrison Povey fired an RBI single to right field to make it a 6-4 game.

Freshman left-hander Max Martzolf took the mound before the inning ended to stop the bleeding. Drumheller’s night ended after allowing three inherited runs to score on two hits and a walk.

Martzolf threw 70 pitches in 4 ⅔ innings and struck out 11 batters to get the save.

“[Martzolf] was great, he bailed us out,” McCormack said. “Boully, DeGusipe, Compton, and Drumheller did not have it tonight, and [Martzolf] jumped in there and just threw strike after strike.”

Bryce Totz is the Sports Editor at the University Press. For more information regarding this or other stories, email him at [email protected], or tweet him @brycetotz.