BOCA RATON, Fla. – Florida Atlantic capitalized on a bases loaded, no outs situation with five runs in the bottom of the eighth inning Tuesday night, helping the Owls to a 9-6 decision over Bethune-Cookman at FAU Baseball Stadium. In the win, FAU takes the midweek series from the Cats with two wins on the year.
 
With the game tied at 4-4 entering the home-half of the eighth inning, homestanding Florida Atlantic (19-8-1) used a bunt single from Rivera to load the bases for the Owls with nobody out. BCU head coach Jason Beverlin then went to the bullpen for Ivan Coutinho in place of Joseph Calamita.
 
It took just five pitches for Tyler Frank to draw a bases loaded RBI walk to plate Jordan Poore for the go-ahead score. Five pitches later Jared Shouppe walked and that crossed Aldrich DeJongh for the 6-4 FAU advantage. A balk would score Rivera and increase the Owls lead at 7-4 before Beverlin went back to the bullpen for Danny Melgarejo.
 
Two more Owls runs put the BCU deficit at 9-4 heading into the top-half of the ninth inning.
 
Bethune-Cookman (19-12) tried to muster up a comeback when Trent Nash plated Adonis Lao and Jameel Edney on a double to right center, putting the Cats to the final 9-6 score line.
 
FAU reliever Mark Nowatnick collected the win to improve his record at 2-0 for the year. He went two-thirds of an inning with a strikeout for the victory.
 
The loss went to Joseph Calamita, dropping him to 2-1 on the season. The junior left-hander gave up three runs (two earned) on two hits without collecting an out in his stint on the mound during the eighth inning.
 
FAU jumped on the board with three runs in the opening inning, chasing BCU starter Marcellus Sneed quickly without an out picked up.
 
The Wildcats battled back with two runs in the top of third using Edney's RBI single, as well as a RBI double from sophomore first baseman Danny Rodriguez.
 
The Cats tied the game in the fourth with a Demetrius Sims RBI single to left that drove across Nate Sterijevski for the 3-3 tie.
 
The Owls reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the frame, before BCU then battled back to knot the game at 4-4 in the top of the eighth when Josten Heron scored Nash courtesy a RBI sacrifice bunt.
 
The offense was paced by Sims and Edney each with three hits on the night.
 
Bethune-Cookman returns to action Wednesday, April 5, when the Wildcats travel to Jacksonville University for a single game beginning at 6 p.m.
 
Follow Bethune-Cookman Baseball on Twitter (@BCUDiamondCats) for all of the latest news and updates. For all Bethune-Cookman Athletics news, follow us on Twitter (@BCUathletics), Instagram (@BCUathletics), Snapchat (@BCUathletics) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/BCUathletics).