FIU right-hander Robert Garcia was named Conference USA Pitcher of the Week after his performance against Bethune-Cookman last Tuesday.

Garcia struck out a career-high and season-high 14 batters in a complete game against the Wildcats to lead the Panthers to a 3-1 victory.

Garcia had at least one strikeout in every inning but the sixth. The senior from Mexico City struck out the side in the first and fourth innings and had a one-hitter going into the eighth inning. After allowing a leadoff single in the second inning, Garcia retired 18 of the next 19 batters before a one-out double in the eighth.

Garcia (3-4) allowed four hits and one run to record his third win of the season. Garcia lowered his ERA to 3.69.

Garcia's 14 strikeouts were four shy of the FIU single-game record shared by Evan Thomas (vs. Florida A&M, 2/9/96) and Raul Garcia (vs. Stetson, 3/28/98). Garcia now has a team-leading 59 strikeouts on the season – which is sixth in Conference USA. Rice's Matt Canterino leads C-USA with 65 strikeouts.

The 14 strikeouts by Garcia were the most by an FIU pitcher since Tyler Alexander struck out 13 UALR batters on May 23, 2013.

Garcia becomes the second FIU pitcher to win the conference's weekly award this season. Freshman Nick MacDonald won the award March 6 after his performance against Manhattan where he allowed one run and struck out nine in 7 2/3 innings.