By Tobey Schulman
The Florida Atlantic Owls opened up their 2024 season with a big challenge. The Owls traveled up to Nashville, Tennessee to take on the #6 ranked Vanderbilt Commodores. What seemed to look like a rather lopsided matchup proved to be more of a test than many would have thought for the Commodores.
The Commodores would start off game one firing at the plate. On the very first pitch thrown by Owls starter CJ Williams, Commodores left fielder Jack Bulger took the pitch over the center field wall to make it 1-0. The Commodores would add two more runs in the first inning, and followed it up with another three runs in the second.
FAU would start to claw their way back into it in the top of the fourth. Four hits lead to four runs in the fourth, with David Alvarez and John Schroeder recording doubles. The Commodores would proceed to tack on one more in the fourth as well, and added another in the sixth making it an 8-4 game in favor of Vanderbilt.
The Owls would get hot in the seventh, putting up five runs and taking their first lead of the game at 9-8. Two more doubles (John Schroeder and Daulton Frank) highlighted the late rally. The Commodores would get that run back in the bottom half of the inning however, off a throwing error from catcher John Schroeder evening the game at 9-9.
FAU would get two more in the eighth, as a home run from Brando Leroux gave the Owls some much needed insurance and an 11-9 lead. Braden Ostrander would come into the game on the mound and kept the lead up until the bottom of the ninth, where a late rally from the Commodores resulted in a 12-11 victory over the Owls.
The Owls would come into game two of the series with a chip on their shoulder. They came back from a 4-1 deficit and won 5-4 over the Commodores, out-hitting the sixth ranked team in the nation ten hits to three. Doubles from Christian Adams, John Schroeder, and two from Emilio Gonzalez, helped propel the Owls past Vanderbilt to even the series.
The Owls went into game three, poised to possibly come into Nashville and walk away with their first series win of 2024. The Commodores however, would put up eleven runs compared to the Owls one run in the fourth off a John Schroeder double. The Commodores pitching got the best of the Owls in the deciding game of the series, but failed to get the sweep.
FAU showed impressive amounts of grit throughout this series. Hawkins Field is arguably one of the hardest environment s to play in college baseball, and the Owls fought hard offensively. Schroeder, Leroux, and Gonzalez combined for eight doubles and eleven RBIs in this series, while Daulton Frank recorded three RBIs as well. While the third game didn’t go their way, they could’ve walked out of Nashville with a series win.
While the Owls didn’t ultimately come away with the series win, they can use the momentum gained from the win they got in this series and use it as motivation towards the rest of the season moving forward.
Photos Credit: Florida Atlantic University Athletics
