BOCA RATON, Fla. (Interstat) — The Florida Gulf Coast Eagles erupted for seven first-inning runs and never looked back, riding a powerful offensive display and a parade of effective relievers to a 12-4 victory over the Florida Atlantic Owls on Tuesday night at FAU Baseball Stadium.

The Eagles (17-4) dismantled the pregame projections, which heavily favored the home team. Interstat’s game simulator had projected a 7-6 Owls win, and its ELO system gave Florida Atlantic (13-8) a 54.4 percent probability of victory. Instead, Florida Gulf Coast pounded out 17 hits, including three home runs, to win its fourth straight game.

The most important part of the game was its immediate and decisive start. The Eagles sent 10 batters to the plate in the top of the first inning against FAU starter Buckler, transforming any home-field advantage into a deep deficit. After two quick outs, Jon Embury and Ian Gorostola set the table with back-to-back singles. Trevor Nelson followed with an RBI single to open the scoring. After Nelson stole second, Jeremy Comer delivered the crushing blow, a three-run homer to deep right field that staked the Eagles to a 4-0 lead before the Owls had swung a bat.

Florida Atlantic responded with two runs in the bottom half, sparked by a leadoff homer from Boylston and an RBI single from Patten, but the early hole proved insurmountable. The Eagles quickly extended their lead in the third when Evan Dempsey launched a two-run homer, making it 6-2.

The Owls threatened repeatedly, collecting 13 hits and putting runners in scoring position in multiple innings, but the Eagles’ bullpen consistently escaped trouble. After starter Preston Rogers allowed two runs over two innings, Reed Biemiller, Logan Baisley and Hyatt Richardson combined for four scoreless frames of relief. Richardson was particularly sharp, entering with the bases loaded and one out in the fifth and striking out two batters to end the threat. He pitched three innings in total, allowing no hits and one unearned run while striking out four.

Florida Gulf Coast put the game out of reach with a three-run fifth, highlighted by a two-run homer from Nathan Gagnon, and added two more in the seventh on Embury’s two-run double. Embury finished 3 for 5 with two RBIs, while Comer drove in three and Dempsey and Gagnon each had two RBIs.

Florida Atlantic’s Patrick Ward provided a bright spot with two perfect innings of relief, striking out two. The Owls scored single runs in the seventh and ninth innings, the latter coming on a pinch-hit RBI single from Baez, but never mounted a sustained rally against the Eagles’ six pitchers. Sebastian Lippman struck out the side in the eighth for FGCU.

The victory improves Florida Gulf Coast’s record in true road games to 3-2 this season. The Eagles begin a three-game ASUN conference series at North Florida on Friday. Florida Atlantic, which had won five of its last six, opens Conference USA play at home against Texas-San Antonio on Friday.