MIAMI, FL – For as chaotic as the past matchups against the FAU Owls have been, FIU Baseball came away with a 1-0 win thanks to some stellar pitching.
In his first start back from an injury, Owen Puk gave the Panthers all they could ask for – three shutout innings, one hit, no walks, and three K. All his strikeouts came on secondary pitches and ended up being swinging strikeouts.
“Owen (Puk) showed a great deal of maturity tonight,” said manager Rich Witten postgame. “Owen’s got unbelievable stuff. We know that. The first part of the season didn’t go the way that he wanted it to go, but he had a little bit of a reset over the last couple of weeks, got his mind in a good place, got his mechanics in a good place. Went out there tonight and dominated.”
Puk noted that this is the best he’s felt this season, especially after what he said was a bit of a flare-up in that start against FGCU. According to Witten, the plan is to just throw him out there again soon and see how it goes.
“Went well,” said Puk following the game. “I felt confident on the mound. Was going into with every pitch for a strike and just felt confident out there.”
All three of Puk’s strikeouts came on secondary stuff, which to him was working well, specifically the cutter. “Threw a lot of cutters, the four-seam felt good and the sweeper for the putaway, but yeah, everything felt good.”
On the other side, Owls starter Brandon Smith gave the Owls five shutout innings, only giving up four hits and striking out three Panthers while giving up no walks.
“He attacked the strike zone,” said Witten. “Had a really good two-seam sink and fastball. Kept us off balance with the fastball/changeup combo to both sides, righties and lefties. Fastball and changeup. Everything was down in the zone. Everything had a good sink.”
The Panthers bullpen backed up Puk with Jackson Ritchey going three shutout innings, striking out three, walking one, and giving up three hits.
The deadlocked game finally saw a breaking in the bottom of the sixth inning. Matthew Corpas led the inning off with a base hit, and then Brylan West was hit by a pitch.
After Armando Becerra grounded out, but moved both runners up, Ryne Guida was intentionally walked. Jeff Liqouri drove in Corpas on a sacrifice fly, giving FIU their 1-0 lead.
Thankfully, following Ritchey, both Jaydon Bishop and Zac Lampton were able to finish the job, securing the win. FIU now stands at 20-17, one win away from matching their 2023 win total.
“Zac’s been he’s been in a groove lately,” said Witten. “We’ve seen that the last couple outings out he’s totally in command of his stuff and his arsenal… He’s very confident and he’s pitching in a rhythm and has a good tempo to what he’s doing, staying mentally in a very solid place.”
FIU will now head to Las Cruces to take on the New Mexico State Aggies in a CUSA three-game set. The Panthers are 7-5 in the conference and still need to face Dallas Baptist, Liberty, and Sam Houston State.
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