FAU Baseball (22-18, 7-8 C-USA) dropped three consecutive games this past weekend to the Dallas Baptist University (DBU) Patriots (27-9, 12-3 C-USA). 

Game 1 (Friday, April 14): Dallas Baptist 10, FAU 2

FAU suffered a tough 10-2 loss to the Patriots Friday evening, after struggling to keep up with their offense most of the night.

The Owls struck early in the bottom of the first inning—on their first at bat to be exact—as junior shortstop Armando Albert hit a leadoff solo homer, leaving the Owls with an early 1-0 lead. 

The Patriots responded, scoring a pair of runs in the top of the second, but the Owls would then answer back in the bottom half with an unearned run, thanks to a three-walk inning, to tie the score 2-2.

In the top of the third, the Patriots jumped out ahead with a bases clearing double, leaving them with a comfortable 5-2 lead.

After DBU took the 3-run lead, both offenses would remain quiet until the sixth, when the Patriots extended their lead to 10-2 on a 4-run, 3-hit rally. 

Graduate left-hander Hunter Cooley, who got the start for FAU, couldn’t catch a break early in the game. In his ninth start of the season, he threw 3 1/3 innings giving up five earned runs on seven hits with four strikeouts. 

Sophomore left-hander Max Martzolf took the mound for FAU to start the sixth and struggled as well, allowing the rally that left DBU with a commanding 8-run lead.  

The Owls’ struggles at the plate continued into the closing minutes, and their lack of hitting ultimately led to the 8-run defeat. FAU managed to strand 14 runners on base, and were held scoreless for the final seven innings, after plating two runs in the first innings.

In addition to FAU’s pitching woes, the 8-run can be credited to an explosive night on offense by the Patriots, in which they finished with 10 runs and 12 hits—compared to five by the Owls.

Jahsheem Benjamin is a staff writer at the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet him @JBenzzofficial

Game 2 (Saturday, April 15) Dallas Baptist 11, FAU 3

Dallas Baptist’s bats stayed hot on Saturday afternoon as they defeated the Owls by 8 runs in game two of the series.

Senior third baseman Jackon Ross scored the first run of the game after drawing a leadoff walk in the bottom of the second inning. After stealing second, Ross came home on a base hit from sophomore catcher John Schroeder.

In the top of the third, Owls starter, senior left-hander Jacob Josey suffered a 4-run rally after keeping the Patriots in check for two innings. A leadoff single, five consecutive base hits later, left Dallas Baptist ahead 4-1. 

FAU strung together some base hits in the bottom of the third to answer the big inning by the Patriots with a single run. With two outs, senior DH Mitchell Hartigan doubled to left center field before scoring on a base hit by the Owls’ leading slugger, junior first baseman Nolan Schauel.

Josey was left on the mound after suffering four runs in the third and gave up another big inning to the Patriots in the fourth. Dallas Baptist again scored four runs on three hits, leaving them with a commanding 8-2 lead. 

Schanuel would take a run off of the Patriot’s lead in the bottom of the sixth with his thirteenth homer of the season, a solo shot to right center field, that left the score at 8-3.

Freshman right-hander Dylan Oborne took over for FAU in the top of the seventh and also had trouble keeping the Patriots in check, as they scored two runs in the seventh and one in the ninth. 

As the Owls ultimately fell 11-3, FAU’s four pitchers allowed 14 hits with seven walks and five strikeouts. FAU ended the night with 10 hits themselves, but just as Friday night , they couldn’t send runners home. 

Game 3 (Sunday, April 16) Dallas Baptist 3, FAU 2

Dallas Baptist swept the series by taking down the Owls in a low-scoring contest Sunday afternoon. 

As they did in the first two games of the series, FAU got ahead by scoring the first run of the game. Junior left fielder knocked his sixth homer of the season over the right field fence in the bottom of the second inning, putting them ahead 1-0.

Junior right-hander Nicholas Del Prado got his tenth start of the season, and through four innings he held the Patriots scoreless.. That changed as he allowed a homer, then walked the next batter to leadoff the fifth, leading senior left-hander Evan Waterbor to be called out of the bullpen.

Waterbor would also allow a pair of runs in the fifth after taking over with no outs, leaving the Owls down 2-3.

In the bottom of the fifth, FAU plated another to make it a 1-run ballgame. With two outs, Debose singled to left field, before Albert drew a walk, putting runners on second and third. Then, Hartigan continued a productive weekend, knocking a single up the middle to score Debose and move the score to 3-2.

That run would be the last of the game as both teams remained scoreless through the final four innings of play. However, FAU did have opportunities to even the score, putting runners in scoring position four times during that stretch.

All those went squandered though, as the Owls fell 3-2 to concede the series sweep.

FAU will be looking to bounce back from three consecutive losses against the #17 University of Miami Hurricanes (22-13, 10-8 ACC). They’ve met the Hurricanes twice and have split the season thus far; their latest meeting is set for Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at FAU Stadium.

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