FIU Baseball Tops WKU To Win First C-USA Road Series of Season

The finale between the FIU Panthers and Western Kentucky Hilltoppers came off a ridiculous series on the scoreboard, with a pair of games ending early off of some extra-hot bats.

Premiere offensive innings were the story of Games One and Two in Bowling Green. FIU dropped five runs in the first inning in the series opener and never looked back with an 11-1 run-rule win.

On Saturday, the Hilltoppers got out to an equally impressive four-run lead early, then dropped five runs in the eighth inning to turn around and run-rule the Panthers.

FIU looked to repeat their prior success on Sunday, and while it took a while to get going despite an early Hilltopper start, the Panthers dominated the latter frame and closed the weekend with a 7-1 win in their first and only series win on the road.

After a pair of uneventful innings, it was the Hilltoppers who found success first. In the bottom of the third, their batter reached on a fielder’s choice groundout, which brought in only a single run despite having bases loaded.

That was the main story of the day – WKU leaving bases loaded. They couldn’t capitalize until it was too late, ultimately leaving 18 runners on base.

The Hilltoppers pitching staff found equal success until FIU found their way in the fifth inning. After Jeff Liquori got on base, Kishon Frett brought them both back home with a homer to left field to take the lead and never look back.

In the eighth inning, an RBI single for Ryne Guida kept the good times rolling for FIU as they added an insurance run as the Hilltoppers were still unable to answer.

Joel Pineiro started the day on the mound for FIU, but it was Logan Runde who stepped in and provided a spark with three full innings of work with two strikeouts and only one earned run.

In the ninth, the Panthers filled the bases quickly and, unlike WKU, made them play when Austin Dearing came up to the plate and went yard with a grand slam, turning a close game into a near-blowout.

WKU didn’t concede that easily, with a two-out rally that brought in two runs off an RBI double. But that was all she wrote as FIU can now leave Kentucky with a 7-3 win to close out the series on a high note.

With the win, FIU now stands with a 13-11 overall record and a 3-2 record against Conference USA opponents.

They’ll head back home for a cross-town rematch between the Miami Hurricanes on Tuesday, March 26th at 6 pm. They’ll then take on the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs in a three-game series beginning on Thursday.