Florida Atlantic University’s baseball team secured a 4-3 walk-off victory over the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in 10 innings on Sunday, Mar. 15, to claim the weekend series. The Owls have now won 10 of their last 12 games and improved their record to 13-7.
The game began with UMBC taking an early lead, scoring once in the first inning and again in the third. Florida Atlantic responded in the bottom of the third when Kyle Boylston reached base on an infield single and later scored on Michael Perazza’s sacrifice fly. Freshman pitcher Garrett Grant started for FAU, allowing three runs over four and one-third innings before turning things over to relievers Zach Kilby and Bryan Boully.
Kilby managed to keep UMBC from extending its lead by stranding runners in scoring position through the middle innings. Boully entered in the eighth inning and retired all six batters he faced across two frames, including two strikeouts. The Owls tied the game at three runs apiece in the eighth after John Martinez reached second base on a dropped pop-up and scored on Eli Small’s high chopper that bounced over first base.
In extra innings, Boully continued his strong performance by working around a leadoff single in the top of the tenth. In FAU’s half of the inning, Perazza led off with a single and advanced to second on Brando Leroux’s sacrifice bunt. After Martinez singled to load up runners, Small hit a ground ball to the right side that allowed Perazza to score from third for the winning run.
Martinez led FAU offensively with three hits—including two doubles—and scored twice. Small contributed two singles and drove in two runs. On the mound, Grant struck out four while Kilby pitched nearly three innings of relief before Boully closed out with three scoreless frames for his third win of the season.
Looking ahead, Florida Atlantic will host Florida Gulf Coast on Tuesday evening before beginning American Conference play against UTSA next weekend.
