By: Tobey Schulman
FAU opened up their series at home against UAB Friday night, hoping to get back in the win column following a midweek loss against Florida in which the Owls came up short 10-8. UAB came into game one at the bottom of the AAC standings, and looked to put together a win with Blayze Berry on the mound. The UAB bats got to C.J Williams and FAU could never catch up. The Blazers would take game one of the series after a dominant start from Berry.
Both pitchers dualed for a scoreless first frame, while in the second, C.J. Williams would give up the first run of the game off of a Tyler Harrington RBI double. The two pitchers would continue to dual back in forth until the fourth inning. In the top half of the fourth, the Blazers would knock C.J. out of the game. One RBI double wasn’t enough for Tyler Harrington, as he did the exact same thing in his next at bat, and a sacrifice fly-out that followed made it a 3-0 game in the fourth.
Carter Brady would attempt to get FAU back in the game when he hit a moonshot over the left field wall to get the Owls on the board 3-1. UAB would respond in the top half of the fifth by breaking the score wide open with a five spot, highlighted by a three-RBI triple from leadoff hitter and Blazers center fielder Darryl Buggs. A poor relay from FAU could’ve very well resulted in an inside the park home run for Buggs.
The Owls wouldn’t respond with any runs in the bottom half of the fifth. UAB on the other hand would continue to pile runs on, adding another two runs in the sixth. Harrington would record his third RBI of the night with a sacrifice fly-out. That wouldn’t be all for the Blazers offense as they added two more runs in the eighth, including Darryl Buggs recording his fourth RBI of the game to make it a 12-1 game. The Owls wouldn’t respond in the eighth, and the Blazers would win by run-rule by a score of 12-1.
FAU drops game one in a very disappointing fashion. Besides the Carter Brady solo shot, there wasn’t much to takeaway from game one. They’ll look to bounce back Saturday, with Brandon Smith on the mound.