BOCA RATON, Fla. – Wichita State dropped its American Athletic Conference opener to the No. 24 Florida Atlantic Owls, 5-1, on Friday evening at FAU Softball Stadium.
 
It took until the third inning, but it was the Owls opening the scoring, bringing a runner in on a wild pitch in the bottom half of the inning to take a 1-0 lead.
 
After a leadoff triple from Ellee Eck in the fifth, Lauren Lucas tied the game at 1-1 with a base hit up the middle. The Owls responded quickly in the bottom half, taking advantage of early walks and an error to score four runs in the inning, taking a 5-1 lead.
 
After a silent sixth, the Shockers threatened to make some noise as the first two runners reached base, but a strikeout and a pair of great catches in foul territory by the FAU defense sealed a 5-1 win for the No. 24 Owls.
 
Barber suffered the loss in her 4.0 innings of work, allowing four earned runs on four hits with six walks. 
 
Eck led the Shockers in the hit department with a 2-for-3 evening, highlighted by her fifth inning triple.
 
Next Up
The Shockers play game two of the series on Saturday at 1:00 PM CT at FAU Softball Stadium.