FIU Baseball Gets Sweet Revenge Over BCU, Records Third Straight Win

MIAMI, FL – It’s always fun to get your get-back against someone who has done you wrong. For FIU Baseball, it was the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats who handed them their first loss of the season in Daytona back on February 20th.

This time, the Panthers knew what talent the Wildcats could bring and took all the precautions to keep them at bay. It took a while for FIU to ramp up offensively, but they got into a groove that led to a 5-1 beatdown to ensure their third straight win.

Innings one through four consisted of some high-class pitching. For the Panthers, Evan Alwine made his first start of the season at the mound and did not disappoint, only allowing a single hit in three innings of work, and striking out three batters.

Zac Lampton then went on to provide some high-quality bullpen work, also recording three innings pitched with two allowed hits and six strikeouts. He was credited with the win.

Meanwhile, the Panthers bats finally woke up in the fifth inning when Ryne Quide hit an RBI single that brought in Brylan West for the first run of the game.

The sixth inning provided a pair of insurance runs as Jeff Liquori hit a deep shot to left field for a solo home run, and Brendan Roney collected an RBI single which brought in Chase Engelhard.

“I don’t have to rush myself to go out there after Brylan,” said Liquori postgame. “He always likes to attack, and I like to attack, so we don’t like having two quick outs. Moving me down kind of helped our lineup out as a team, and we’ve won three straight. So it helps all of us.”

In the top of the eighth inning, Bethune-Cookman got their first and only run off an error by Alex Ulloa who couldn’t corral the ball in time.

FIU responded with two unanswered runs in the bottom of the eighth. Liquori stole home off a wild pitch, and an RBI popout by Andre Martinez was the nail in the coffin.

In one of the most complete games this season, both the pitching rotation and batting order impressed. The Panthers racked up eight hits but left nine men on base in the process. BCU was held to just five hits.

For the first time since February 20th, FIU will leave Miami for a road contest, but they won’t have to go far. They’ll head to Boca Raton to take on the FAU Owls on Friday, March 8th at 6:30 pm.

This will start a three-game weekend series against the Owls, however, the Saturday contest will be back in Miami, with the Sunday finale once again in Palm Beach County.