The Florida Atlantic Owls are the

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

team of

Florida Atlantic University Florida Atlantic University (Florida Atlantic or FAU) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Boca Raton, Florida, and satellite campuses in Dania Beach, Florida, Dania Beach, Davie, Florida, Davie, Fort Lauderd ...

which plays its home games at

FAU Baseball Stadium FAU Baseball Stadium is a baseball venue located in Boca Raton, Florida, United States. It has been home to the Florida Atlantic Owls baseball team since 1991.

. The Owls' head coach is John McCormack. Fielding its first team in 1981, the Florida Atlantic University baseball team has experienced frequent success, shared respect from other baseball teams nationwide and the building of a power in

NCAA baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the college athletics, intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to American football, football and basketball, college competition in the Baseball in the United State ...

. As of the 2017 season, the Owls have had 19 consecutive winning seasons. Additionally, the Owls have had only four losing seasons in 41 years of competition.

Overview and history

's baseball program began in 1981 and has seen success, growth and change in its 41 seasons of competition. Among the changes, the most noticeable to fans would be the change of the team name in 2005. University President Frank T. Brogan led the charge for the university to create a unified, single mark for FAU's athletic programs. The student-body decided "Owls" should be the athletic logo and in 2005, the baseball team lost its previous identity of "Blue Wave." Over the 30 years of competition, FAU baseball has jumped from the NAIA, to

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

, to

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

competition, and has reached success on all levels.

Steve Traylor era: The beginning

Under its first coach and first year of competition, FAU won its inaugural game, 12–8, against St. Thomas University on February 23, 1981.

Steve Traylor Steve Traylor (born February 15, 1951) is an American former college baseball and basketball coach. In basketball, he was the head coach of Greensboro College. In baseball, he was the head coach at Florida Atlantic, Duke, and Wofford. Traylor ...

coached FAU from 1981–1987 and oversaw the building of a program from scratch. After only three years of existence, FAU jumped from the NAIA level to the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Division II level. If there was any doubts about this young program belonging on that level, its very first season would prove any doubters wrong. The Blue Wave opened the 1984 season with a win against in-state super-power

University of Florida Gators The Florida Gators are the College sports in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Florida, located in Gainesville, Florida, Gainesville. The University of Florida, its athletic program, its alumni an ...

, 5–4. FAU continued to win its first five games of the season, including another major upset, this time on the road at another in-state super-power, defeating University of Miami Hurricanes, 11–10. The Blue Wave finished the 1984 season with a record of 40–15, ranked 8th in the nation in the final NCAA Division II poll.

Kevin Cooney era: Division I and national success

During the offseason between 1987 and 1988,

left Florida Atlantic to become the head coach at

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

. FAU hired

Kevin Cooney Kevin Cooney may refer to: * Kevin Cooney (actor), American actor * Kevin Cooney (baseball) Kevin Cooney (born August 12, 1950) is an American former college baseball coach who was the head coach at Montclair State from 1984–1987 and Florida ...

, head coach of

Montclair State University Montclair State University (MSU) is a Public university, public research university in Montclair, New Jersey, with parts of the campus extending into Little Falls, New Jersey, Little Falls. As of fall 2018, Montclair State was, by enrollment, ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. Since the hiring, FAU has won 61% of their games and transformed itself from a local power in South Florida to a national baseball program on the Division I level. Coach Cooney arrived at FAU in 1988 and began his 20th season as head coach of the Owls on opening night of the 2007 season. Given the success and unprecedented heights that Cooney has taken FAU baseball, "Florida Atlantic" and "Kevin Cooney" have become synonymous with one another. Entering the 2007 season, Cooney has won 680 games (at FAU) and 820 (all-time, between FAU and

, his alma mater and where he coached from 1984–1987). In his 19+ seasons in Boca Raton, Cooney has established a powerhouse program at a university that continues to grow. Cooney has led the charge for FAU baseball to enjoy such successes as, 67 athletes turning professional (with 4 reaching the majors). For these accolades and so much more, Cooney was inducted into the

Palm Beach County Palm Beach County is a county located in the southeastern part of Florida and lies directly north of Broward County and Miami-Dade County. The county had a population of 1,492,191 as of the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous county ...

Sports

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

in 2007. On March 15, 2006, against

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, Cooney reached a personal milestone, coaching a team to his 800th career victory. On Thursday, April 24, 2008, Cooney announced that the 2008 season would be his last season as head coach of the Owls. Subsequently, on May 24, exactly a month after this announcement, Cooney coached his last game as FAU head coach when the Owls lost to Western Kentucky in the play-in championship game of the

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams participa ...

Championship Tournament.

All-time consecutive wins record

During the improbable 1999 season, when FAU finished with a school-best record of 54–9, Cooney led his team to an NCAA all-time record for consecutive wins. Starting February 19, in a 7–4 win over Bethune-Cookman College, the Blue Wave continued on to 34 consecutive wins. The streak lasted all the way to April 17, when

Jacksonville University Jacksonville University (JU) is a private university in Jacksonville, Florida. Located in the city's Arlington (Jacksonville), Arlington district, the school was founded in 1934 as a two-year college and was known as Jacksonville Junior College u ...

topped FAU, 2–1. The streak ended two days short of lasting two complete calendar months.

March to 800

Cooney's milestone wins: *1st: March 14, 1984 (Montclair State 5, Southern Illinois 0) *100th: May 6, 1986 (Montclair State 9, Glassboro State 1) *200th: April 28, 1989 (FAU 3, UCF 2) *300th: March 15, 1993 (FAU 4, Rowan 3) *400th: March 18, 1996 (FAU 6, Northeastern 2) *500th: March 13, 1999 (FAU 8, Troy 2) *600th: March 31, 2001 (FAU 4, Stanford 3) *700th: May 9, 2003 (FAU 12, Georgia Southern 2) *800th: March 15, 2006 (FAU 8, Columbia 7)

John McCormack era: Sooner than five years

On July 1, 2008, Florida Atlantic named 18-year Assistant Coach, John McCormack, as Cooney's successor. McCormack served as Cooney's top assistant, associate head coach and recruiting coordinator for the 18 seasons before being elevated as head coach. With the foundation laid by Cooney, McCormack leads the Owls under intense pressure and high expectations. In 2019, John McCormack was inducted into the FAU Athletics Hall of Fame.

Individual records and honors

No-hitters

*Tom Clark, 1982 *Jim Hanrahan, 1984 *Luis Merino, 1985 *Jim Drancsak, 1986 *John Sammon, 1994 *Mickey Storey, 2006

FAU Baseball Hall of Fame

In 2006, Florida Atlantic University inducted the first class to its new FAU Baseball Hall of Fame.

All-Americans

17 players from FAU baseball have won recognition as "All-American": Keith Foley (1983), Mike Ryan (1984), Scott Hay (1986), Jack Penrod (1988), Todd Moser (1999), Dan Jackson (1999), Dickie Hart (1999), Randy Beam (2003), Jeff Fiorentino (2004), Mickey Storey (2005), Robbie Widlansky (2007), Mike McKenna (2008), Andy Mee (2010), Hugh Adams (2013), Brendon Sanger (2015), Rickey Santiago (2015), C.J. Chatham (2016).fausports.com

Freshmen All-Americans

8 players from FAU baseball have won recognition as "Freshmen All-American": Kevin Connacher (1994), Rusty Brown (2001), Chris Pillsbury (2001),

Jeff Fiorentino Jeffrey Philip Fiorentino (born April 14, 1983) is an American former Major League Baseball outfielder who played for the Baltimore Orioles and Oakland Athletics between 2005 and 2009. His nickname is '' Screech'' due to his resemblance to the Du ...

(2002), Derek Hutton (2002), Tim Mascia (2003), Mickey Storey (2005), Stephen Kerr (2014).

2005 Mickey Storey

In 2005, as a freshman pitcher for FAU,

Mickey Storey Mickey Charles Storey (born March 16, 1986) is an American former professional baseball pitcher and current manager of the Houston Astros' Triple-A affiliate, the Sugar Land Space Cowboys. He has pitched in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the H ...

was named ''Collegiate Baseball's'' National Freshman Pitcher of the Year. Storey's stat line for his freshman season was one of the best posted by a pitcher in the nation. Storey's 1.70

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

is a school-record for a single-season, and ranked fifth in the nation for the 2005 season among pitchers on the Division I level. His performance during the 2005 season awarded him an invitation to try out for the USA Baseball National Team. Storey also took home numerous other awards that season, including All-American honors, Freshman All-American honors, All-Conference honors, and All-Conference Freshman honors.

2007 Robbie Widlansky

In 2007

Robbie Widlansky Robert Eric Widlansky (born November 6, 1984) is a former professional baseball outfielder who played internationally for the Israel national baseball team. In college, he won the Sun Belt Conference batting title his senior season, with a Flori ...

won the

batting title In baseball, batting average (AVG) is a measure of a batter's success rate in achieving a hit during an at bat. In Major League Baseball (MLB), it is calculated by dividing a player's hits by his at bats (AB). In MLB, a player in each league win ...

his senior season (.430 average; breaking the school's season record), and Sun Belt Player of the Year,

NCAA All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

honors, and First-Team All-Conference honors.

Head coaches

Year by year records

Postseason records

Florida Atlantic is 22-25 all-time in NCAA Division I postseason history (22–23 all-time in NCAA Regionals and 0–2 in NCAA Super Regionals).

Professional Owls

Owls in the majors

Florida Atlantic Owls to reach Major League Baseball: * Tim Harikkala,

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

(1995–2005) *

Carmen Cali Carmen Salvatore Cali (born November 2, 1978) is a former Major League Baseball relief pitcher. Cali graduated in 1997 from Naples High School in Naples, Florida, after lettering and starring four years in both football and baseball. He went on t ...

, pitcher (2005–2008) *

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

(2005–2008) * Tommy Murphy,

(2006–2007) *

Mike Crotta Michael John Crotta (born September 25, 1984) is an Americans, American former professional baseball pitcher. He previously played for the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball (MLB) and Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters of Nippon Professional Ba ...

(2011) *

Jeff Beliveau Jeffrey Ryan Beliveau (born 17 January 1987) is an American professional baseball pitcher who is currently a free agent. He previously pitched in MLB for the Chicago Cubs, Tampa Bay Rays, Toronto Blue Jays, and Cleveland Indians. As an amateur, ...

, pitcher currently a free agent (2012–present) *

, pitcher (2012–2013) * R.J. Alvarez, pitcher currently a free agent (2014–present) *

Ryan Garton Ryan Patrick Garton (born December 5, 1989) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Tampa Bay Rays in 2016 and 2017 and the Seattle Mariners in 2017 and 2019. Career Tampa Bay Rays Ga ...

, pitcher for the Tampa Bay Rays (2016–2021) *

Austin Gomber Austin Zachary Gomber (born November 23, 1993) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Colorado Rockies of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals' fourth round select ...

, pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals (2018, 2020-present)

Notes and references

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Florida Atlantic Owls Baseball 1981 establishments in Florida Baseball teams established in 1981