Owls in NCAA

Face Jacksonville first; Hurricanes fail to make tourney.

BOCA RATON — A year after dealing with disappointment at this time of year, it was a much more joyous atmosphere for the Florida Atlantic baseball team.

On Monday, the Owls were one of the 64 teams selected to the NCAA Tournament. They will play in the Florida regional, starting Friday against Jacksonville at 6:30 p.m. The Gators play Columbia in the other half of the bracket.

“It never crossed my mind that we wouldn’t be in,” FAU coach John McCormack said. “I thought we played really well this year. We made it to the championship game, had 40 wins, RPI was good … We challenged ourselves with a trip to Oregon, three games at Miami, at Florida. Then, of course, we finished four percentage points out of second place in our own league. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind.”

The Owls, who are making their 13th NCAA appearance, played their way into the postseason after a strong showing in the Conference USA tournament. They advanced to the final for the first time in school history, falling 12-3 to Rice on Sun-

day.

“We felt safe that we were in,” shortstop Tyler Frank said. “I think we kind of knew we were going there. We had a feeling. It was kind of an expected outcome.”

The news was uplifting to a team that was dealing with exhaustion. The Owls’ semifinal game against Rice didn’t end until 3 a.m., Sunday. They then played for the championship just a few hours later.

“We only got about two or three hours of sleep on the way back,” junior Gunnar Lambert said. “… They were all really good team wins. It brought us a lot closer actually, especially the rain delays, people being passionate in between the delays, having team meetings in between and keeping everyone focused.”

The Owls finished the regular season 40-17-1 and were rated No. 31 in the final RPI rankings. Their selection to the tournament comes a year after they failed to qualify despite winning 35 games. The Owls have made the NCAA tourney three of the past four seasons.

“We haven’t played JU in years, since we left the Atlantic Sun [conference],” McCormack said. “That was probably 12 years ago. [Jacksonville coach Chris Hayes] is a good friend of mine. I’m looking forward to it. The nice thing about [playing in] Gainesville is we can get a lot of parents there. It’s good for them to be able to see their kids play.”

FAU is led by Frank, who last week was named the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year. He hit .315 with a team-high 13 home runs and 34 RBI. Senior outfielder David Miranda led the team with a .321 batting average while sophomore Cody Wilson had 12 homers and 35 RBI. Senior pitcher Jake Miednik went 7-1 with a 3.05 ERA and had a teamhigh 87 strikeouts.

“I’m excited,” sophomore Eric Rivera said. “I think all the guys are excited. We’re ready to play … We expect to be the best. We expect to win.”

The Gators (42-17) are the tournament’s No. 1 seed, followed by Stanford (44-10), Oregon State (44-10-1), Ole Miss (46-15), Arkansas (39-18), North Carolina (38-18), Florida State (43-17) and Georgia (37-19).

The Owls are making their fifth trip to the NCAAs under McCormack. They have yet to advance past the first round.

“I love this team to death,” injured outfielder David Miranda said. “I’m not surprised that they did what they did. They’re amazing.”