BOCA RATON, Fla. — Florida Atlantic University's baseball team rallied from a four-run deficit to defeat the University of Central Florida, 6-5, in Boca Raton, with the Owls now just eight games away from finishing the regular season.
FAU infielder Patrick Ward sparked the comeback with a two-run homer to left-center field — his fourth of the year — cutting a 4-0 UCF lead in half.
WATCH BELOW: FAU baseball beats UCF 6-5
The Owls continued to chip away in the same inning, scoring on a sacrifice fly to make it 4-3, then tied the game when Marshall Lipsey roped a ball out to right field to bring in the tying run.
FAU erased the entire four-run deficit within a single inning, knotting the score at four before eventually taking a 6-5 lead into the ninth.
With two outs in the ninth, freshman pitcher Garrett Grant struck out the final batter to seal the win.
"The bullpen has taken us a long time to figure that out, and what Dalton (Robinson) did tonight was amazing this morning," said FAU head baseball coach John McCormack. "We're working through it, and we're like, oh man yeah, we have some guys that have been hanging on by a thread, and he did a great job and then Garrett did a great job, and Wood comes in and gets his three out so it was a really nice evening for Florida Atlantic."
The win adds to FAU's growing momentum after winning their last two series. The Owls had extra motivation against UCF, who handed them a 17-2 loss a year ago.
FAU hits the road this weekend for a series against Wichita State, with first pitch Friday at 7 p.m.
The American Baseball Championship takes place May 20-24 in Clearwater.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
