* Brown's pitching stats are from 2011

Setting the SceneLocation: Miami, Fla.
Field: FIU Baseball Stadium (2,000)
Television: N/A
Live Video Streaming: FIUSports.com Panther Pass
Live Blog: FIUSports.com -- The Prowl
Live Stats: FIUSports.com
Twitter: @FIUBaseball
FIU Head Coach Turtle Thomas: 131-108-1 (5th Season at FIU)
Brown Head Coach Marek Brabinski: 268-348-2 (14th Season at Brown)
Rankings: FIU (BA-NR/PG-NR/CBN-NR/ESPN-NR/NCBWA-RV)
                 Brown (BA-NR/PG-NR/CBN-NR/ESPN-NR/NCBWA-NR)
Tickets: FIUSports.com
BA - Baseball America/PG - Perfect Game//CBN - College Baseball News/NCBWA - National Collegiate Baseball Writers of America

Bermudez up for Lowe's Senior CLASS Award
Senior Pablo Bermudez has been selected as one of the 30 finalists for the 2012 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. The award is given to the NCAA Division I baseball player that excels on and off the field, and honors those with notable achievements of character, classroom, competition and community. He is the only Sun Belt player on the list.

What Can Brown do for You?
FIU holds a 6-2 advantage over the Brown Bears in the all-time series. The last time the Panthers and the Bears played, they split a rain shortened two-game series at the Coastal Carolina Beach Bash in 2009.

Upset City
The Panthers win over #8 FSU (2/24) was a memorable one. It was the first win for the Panthers over the 'Noles in 22 years. The last time FIU defeated Florida State was on May 2, 1990 and the last win over FSU in Tallahassee came on Feb. 21 of the same year. The last time the Panthers defeated a top-10 opponent was in 2008 when FIU took down top-ranked Miami in Coral Gables in Turtle Thomas's first season as head coach.

Hit Parade
The Panthers out-hit the Seminoles 26-19 in their three-game series. 

Bala at the Dish
Senior catcher Iosmel Leon jacked his first home run of his career in the eighth inning of a 3-1 loss against #8 FSU (2/25). The home run came off Hunter Scantling.

Gone Fishing
On Wednesday, March 7, the Panthers will play an exhibition against the Miami Marlins in their new Marlins Ballpark. This is the first time an FIU baseball team will play an exhibition against a Major League team. Game time is at 7:10 p.m. Against FIU pitching, Ozzie Guillen will send to the plate: Jose Reyes, Emilio Bonifacio, Greg Dobbs, Mike Stanton, Omar Infante, Chris Coghlan, Bryan Petersen, Brett Hayes, Matt Dominguez and Ricky Nolasco on the mound.

Striking Out Through the Record Books
With seven K's against Rice (2/17), senior R.J. Fondon passed Scott Rembisz for 6th on the FIU all-time strikeouts list.

Cha Cha Cha to SI.com
During an almost three hour rain delay against Rice (2/17) the FIU baseball team passed the time with their own rendition of the popular dance, the Cha Cha slide. The video went viral and was featured on SportsIllustrated.com SI's Extra Mustard with Hot Clicks Sports Video of the Day. As of Wednesday, Feb. 23, the video has over 19,000 views.

Oh Captain, My Captain
As voted on by their teammates before the season, senior outfielder, Pablo Bermudez, and senior relief pitcher D.J. Swatscheno were named team captains for the 2012 season.

Rewriting the FIU Record Books
Seniors Pablo Bermudez and Mike Martinez are in or near the top 5 in eight career statistical categories (see chart on page 4) and project to be first and second in those categories at the end of their illustrious careers.

Always Room for Improvement
In his first four years as skipper of the Panthers, Turtle Thomas has improved on his win total in each season. In 2008 his squad picked up 20 wins and raised that total by 14, an FIU record, in his second season and improved by two more in 2010. In 2011, Thomas' squad won an impressive 40 games.

Preseason Favorites
The Panthers were picked by the leagues head coaches as the co-favorite in the Sun Belt with Troy. Each team earned four first place votes and a total of 93 points.

Diamonds are Forever
At the recent FIU baseball and softball Diamond Dinner to kick-off the season, the FIU baseball team eclipsed their 2011 total of $150,000 at their biggest fundraiser of the year. What was the top auction item of the evening?? An all-inclusive trip to the 2013 Orange Bowl and BCS National Championship game that went for $7,000. Former MLB player and manager "Sweet" Lou Piniella was on hand as the key note speaker and was even caught up in a bidding war with local radio personality Jorge Sedano on a vacation in the Florida Keys.

Panthers Garner Preseason SBC Honors
After being named Player of the Year in 2011, Pablo Bermudez will enter the 2012 season as the favorite to win the award once again. Along with Bermudez preseason POY nod, senior Mike Martinez was named an All-SBC 1B, junior Rudy Flores was name All-SBC DH, and junior Mason McVay was named All-SBC RP.
 
Bermudez Preseason All-American
Senior OF Pablo Bermudez was recently named a Third-Team Preseason All-American as announced by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers of America (NCBWA) and a Preseason Honorable Mention All-American by CollegeBaseballInsider.com.

Turtle up to His Old Tricks Again
Thomas, known as one of the best recruiters in the country for nearly two decades is at it again at FIU. The 2012 class is already gaining notoriety in the baseball community as Perfect Game USA already has the class ranked No. 18 (not including JUCO signees) in the country. The pitching-heavy class features 10 arms and six position players. 10 of the signees will come in as freshman from high school while six are junior college players.

For the Love of the Game
The future is now as two of the Panthers highly touted recruits in Aramis Garcia and Julius Gaines will take the field in 2012. Garcia, a local product from Pembroke Pines, Fla., was widely considered a top-10 round draft pick out of high school before signing a letter of intent with the Panthers. Garcia's strong commitment to continue his education and attend FIU played a large part in him falling to the St. Louis Cardinals in the 20th round of the 2011 MLB Amateur draft. Gaines comes to FIU from Luella High School in Georgia where he was a Baseball America Preseason High School All-American his senior season. He was drafted in the 32nd round of the 2011 MLB Amateur draft by the Boston Red Sox. Both players passed over signing bonuses of over $250,000 to join the Panthers.

Oh Henry!
Over the summer, junior outfielder Jabari Henry was named to the Cape Code Summer League All-Star Game and his Harwich Mariners eventually went on to win the summer league championship.

Coaching Shuffle
After spending the past four years at the University of Alabama, Drew French has been hired as FIU baseball's newest pitching coach while assistant coach Frank Damas was promoted to associate head coach and recruiting coordinator.

At the Next Level
Five former Panthers from the 2011 team are now a part of Major League Ball Clubs as Jose Behar (Marlins, 30th) and Jeremy Patton (Cardinals, 38th) were drafted and Garrett Wittels (Cardinals), Bryam Garcia (Braves) and Yoandy Barroso (White Sox) were signed as undrafted free agents.