FAU Baseball Looks To Finish Regular Season Strong

By: Jack Rubin

As the college baseball season concludes, the Florida Atlantic Owls (31-18-1, 16-11 C-USA) are in third place in the competitive Conference USA. Tuesday night saw the Owls take home a key victory over the UCF Knights at the new Ballpark of the Palm Beaches in West Palm Beach.

Florida Atlantic will play their last regular season series of the season this weekend against Old Dominion (35-17, 18-9 C-USA). They have already secured a spot in the Conference USA championships.

Virginia Tech kept the Owls second place chances alive on Tuesday by defeating Old Dominion, 8-4. A sweep of the Monarchs could push FAU back into second place to finish the regular season.

The Owls are currently tied for third place in the C-USA with Louisiana Tech, as they both hold conference records of 16-11. Whether FAU finishes second or third is dependent on how Louisiana Tech fares in their last series, but the Owls control their own destiny against Old Dominion.

The Owls have been a very inconsistent, streaky team over the past month. April included a four-game winning streak, a four-game skid, and a five-game winning streak.

Despite a strong finish to April, FAU has stumbled through May so far with a record of 2-5. Their five losses consist of a sweep at the hands of Southern Mississippi, and two to last place Western Kentucky. These stretches of ups and downs dropped the Owls from second place to fourth in the C-USA.

Florida Atlantic’s May struggles were showcased in a crucial series against first place Southern Mississippi. Coming into the series, the Owls trailed Southern Miss by just one game for the conference lead. FAU’s pitching faltered all weekend, leading to a blowout loss and two consecutive walk-off losses. If the FAU bullpen could have closed out those games, their season would have taken a much different turn.

FAU left Hattiesburg with three losses and trailed the 40-12 (22-2 C-USA) Golden Eagles by four games. Losses in two of three games to the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers sunk the Owls to third place, but a strong finish can propel FAU back up to second. Their lone win against the Hilltoppers was crucial though, as it clinched their C-USA playoff berth.

The Owls started the final week of the regular season with a 9-4 win over the UCF Knights. FAU’s bats brought home seven runs in the first three innings en route to ensuring the season-series sweep over the Knights.

Florida Atlantic has a massive week ahead of them. Their final series against Old Dominion is arguably their most important test to date.