FIU Baseball Starts Off SHSU Series On Sour Note

MIAMI, FL – Looking to lock up a top-five seed in the 2024 Conference USA Tournament, the FIU Panthers had to take on the Sam Houston State Bearkats, who are looking to keep their hopes alive to clinch a spot.

Unfortunately for the Panthers, the Bearkats took a strong 3-0 lead which they never looked back on and ended up winning by a final score of 7-1.

Walker Janek, the number 25 draft prospect (According to MLB Pipeline Walter Janek) is no joke. Standing at 6’0,” 190 pounds, the Bearkats catcher took Panthers starting pitcher Cameron Knox deep for a solo homer to give SHSU a 1-0 lead.

Jeffery David then took Knox deep, allowing his second home run of the evening to give the Bearkats a 2-0 lead. Janek knocked in his second RBI of the evening on a groundout, driving in Jace Martinez.

Knox ended his outing going four innings, giving up three runs off of four hits, walking two, and striking out three. In relief, Kevin Martin entered the game.

Bearkats starting pitcher Coltin Atkinson shut down the Panthers lineup limiting them to just six hits. Atkinson struck out four and didn’t give up a walk. He went six innings.

The action for the Panthers began in the bottom of the seventh. In relief for Atkinson, the Bearkats went with Logan Hewitt, and Brendan Roney took him deep on a 1-1 count to cut the deficit to two runs.

Back-to-back-to-back RBIs for the Bearkats put the nail in the coffin for FIU. The Bearkats took a 7-1 lead.

Despite a strong seventh inning, it wasn’t enough to come back and win the game.

With the loss, FIU drops to 25-23 on the season and 11-11 in conference play. The Panthers are now at risk of dropping to below .500 in conference play for the first time this season.

They’ll look to avoid that tomorrow at 5pm.