FIU Baseball Rebounds, Run Rules MTSU To Nab Series Win

MIAMI, FL – In this series against Middle Tennessee, FIU has made it a priority to come back from a huge deficit to win games, something that they showcased earlier this season against Florida Gulf Coast.

In the first game of the series, FIU was down by eight runs early and almost came back to steal the game, but it wasn’t meant to be.

Yesterday, however, the Panthers accomplished what they set out to do – down 3-6 entering the eighth inning, FIU’s bats woke up and dropped eight unanswered runs to win that game in dominating fashion.

Today’s game was an amalgamation of both those games in the best way possible. The Panthers found themselves down by a pair of runs early on and then pure madness ensued, leading to a run-ruled 16-6 smackdown.

MTSU got to experience what FIU had to go through in that earlier loss against the Owls. Joel Pineiro had an alright game as the Panthers’ starter, going four innings while giving up four earned runs.

Ryan Cabarcas stepped in and went the rest of the way, with two earned runs given up but otherwise silencing MTSU’s batters.

Middle Tennessee’s pitchers were dealing as well…until the fifth inning. FIU quickly filled up the bases and made MTSU pay with their bodies…literally.

After giving up a walk to Alex Ulloa with the bases loaded to bring in the first run, back-to-back batters (Jeff Liquori and Ronny Medina) were hit by pitches which brought in a couple more runs.

Then, a pair of RBIs cleared the bases and dropped six runs in one inning to tie the game up. A massive deficit was erased in just one inning of work, and FIU had plenty left to give on offense.

The bottom of the sixth was a repeat, with six MORE runs smacked in thanks to three home runs by Ulloa, Liquori, and Andre Martinez to blow this game wide open.

While the Blue Raiders had nothing left in the tank on offense, four more runs were added in the seventh inning by FIU before the umps called the game early, and the Panthers walked away with a 16-6 win.

For being the first C-USA opponent of the season, the Panthers impressed for the most part. They stand with a record of 11-9 and will take on a familiar opponent in a midweek matchup – the Miami Hurricanes.

That’ll be on Tuesday, March 19th at 6pm. The Paws Up Team will be on location in Coral Gables to provide coverage.