FIU Baseball Drops First Road Contest Of 2025 To USF

TAMPA – The first (And hopefully last) losing streak of the 2025 season for FIU baseball has been achieved as the Panthers came up short to USF, falling by a score of 6-5.

In their first road game of the season, the Panthers were unphased by a deficit of 4-1, ultima tying the game in the eighth inning before the Bulls pulled away with a pair of late runs to secure the win.

Flipping The Script

This game felt like the opposite of how the season has begun pitching-wise. Owen Puk has had some phenomenal starts up to this point, but the Bulls got to him early with a two-run homer to kick things off. He only played in 1.2 innings, allowing four hits and four earned runs while striking out two.

When the damage was done, the bullpen pulled together and limited what USF could do. Juan Villarreal allowed no hits in three innings while the Panthers looked to answer on offense.

In the second, Alex Ulloa smacked an RBI single to center field, scoring and bringing home Albert Serrano. When the deficit was 4-1, the Panthers relied on a single from Serrano in the fifth inning to cut back into the deficit.

The Bulls extended their lead to 4-1 in the bottom half of the second. They plated two runs on an RBI double and a wild pitch. However, FIU continued to chip away, cutting the deficit to 4-2 in the third when Serrano’s bloop single dropped between shallow right and second base.

So, So Close

Ultimately, FIU tied this game up in the eighth inning. They came oh-so-close thanks to Sebastian Berrios nailing a sacrifice fly- his first RBI in college baseball.

While their bullpen was solid, FIU’s closers couldn’t stop USF in the bottom of the eighth. A two-out RBI single alongside a wild pitch gave them a 6-4 lead. An RBI groundout by Serrano made it a one-run game in the ninth. Unfortunately, that was all the Panthers could muster.

After a 7-0 start to the season, the Panthers have suffered back-to-back losses. They’ll look to fix that when they welcome the Merrimack Warriors to the 305 to start a new four-game series. The first matchup is on Friday, February 28th at 6:30pm. Saturday will feature a two-game doubleheader at 2pm and 6pm, respectively. The series finale is on Sunday art noon.