Boca Raton, Fla. - Lynn University's baseball team fell to Division I Florida Atlantic, 13-7, Wednesday night at FAU Baseball Stadium. The Fighting Knights fall to 7-7 on the season while the Owls improve to 7-4.
The Fighting Knights came out of the gate strong scoring two in the top of the first to take the early lead. Eric Herrera started offense with a one-out walk and would score as Anthony Boza doubled. Dane Derstine would drive Boza in with a two-out single to give Lynn the 2-0 lead.
The lead would be short lived, however, as FAU scored three in its half of the first and three more in the second to take a 6-2 advantage on four hits and two Lynn miscues.
Lynn would cut the four-run deficit in half with another two runs in the third as Boza got the rally started drawing a one-out walk. A single by Richie McVey put runner on first and second for Derstine who plated Boza once again with another RBI single. With two outs, Phil Mannelly singled to bring in McVey from third.
FAU would tack on one run in the fourth, sixth and seventh innings to extend its lead to 9-4 but Lynn would get one back in the top of the eighth on Derstine's sacrifice fly to centerfield. The deep fly scored McVey who tripled to lead off the inning.
The Owls then erupted for more runs in the eighth to go up by eight going into the top of the ninth. Lynn attempted to come back as they scored on a McVey single and a fielding error by the shortstop but were unable to overcome the deficit.
Providing most of the offense for Lynn was the heart of the order as the three through seven hitters combined for ten of the team's 12 hits. Derstine recorded drove in three runs on two hits while McVey and Mannelly each had three hits. Boza also connected on a pair of hits and scored three runs.
Kyle Wolfe received the loss for the Fighting Knights as he allowed six earned runs on eight hits in 6.2 innings of work while striking out four. Sam Jones retired the only batter he faced in relief while Jason Whelan struggled allowing four runs in the eighth.
LU is back in action Friday when they take on Mercyhurst at Santaluces Athletic Complex in Lake Worth, Fla., for a 4 pm start.
