By: Tobey Schulman
Series Scores: Game 1 – 3-2 FAU, Game 2 – 8-5 USF, Game 3 – 6-3 FAU
FAU traveled up to Tampa this weekend to take on their in-state and new conference rivals the South Florida Bulls. The two teams both entered the series with a 7-8 conference record, looking to improve that margin heading into the final stretch of the regular season. The Owls would take game one on Friday and after dropping game two on Saturday, they would bounce back to win the rubber match and take the series two games to one.
Owls ace C.J. Williams would put together yet another solid outing, going 6.0 innings pitched, giving up four hits, and two runs while striking out seven. Despite his strong six inning performance, Sam Drumheller would be credited with the win as he pitched a clean inning to help secure the Owls the series opening win. Danny Trehey came in and recorded his fourth save of the season as well.
USF had a 2-0 lead over FAU, and Christian Adams came up in the sixth to tie the game at two with a two-run home run. Andrew McKenna would ground out in the eighth, scoring Jalen DeBose to give the Owls the game winning run.
Christian Adams got the Owls on the board first in game two with his second home run of the series. USF would then score six unanswered runs to take the lead 6-2. John Schroeder and Christian Adams would help drive in the rest of the runs for FAU, with Schroeder recording a double and a home run, and Adams tallying an RBI single. USF would ultimately add two more runs and would take game two 8-5. Tyler Murphy would be given his second loss of the year in game two.
FAU now looked to Trey Beard and the Owls pitching staff for the rubber match in game three. The offense snapped a trend from previous games and kept their scoring going late in the game to leave Tampa with a series win. Led by yet again John Schroeder, Christian Adams, and Jalen DeBose, the Owls beat the Bulls 6-3 in game three.
Steven Andrews would come in for Trey Beard after he went four innings striking out five, and was credited with the win after throwing three innings of shutout baseball. Danny Trehey would come in and record his second save of the series and his fifth of the season overall. Carter Brady would also come up big for FAU with a go ahead three-run home run in the sixth.
After a tough stretch of games this was a huge series win for FAU. They’re now tied with Charlotte in the AAC standings, with three more conference series to possibly rise further in the rankings. They’ll have one of those chances next weekend in Boca Raton against UAB who is 7-11 in AAC play.
Before that series they’ll travel to Gainesville, to take on another in-state opponent Florida. A win Tuesday against the 2023 College World Series runner up is another chance to generate some confidence and momentum going into these final series.