Box Score MIAMI (May 7, 2013) – The FIU baseball team (23-25) dropped its eighth-straight game on Tuesday night to the Jacksonville Dolphins, 8-3. The Dolphins seven, eight and nine hitters combined to go 7-for-11, with the No. 9 hitter Nate Ricci accounting for two homeruns and a double.

Freshman Chris Elander made his first career start on the mound for the Panthers and showed some bright spots, going 6.1 innings with six hits, four earned runs and five strikeouts. Senior Nathan Burns and junior Tyler Hibbert recorded two hits apiece and each tripled in the loss.

Jacksonville struck first in the third inning when Ricci hit the first of his two homeruns. The solo shot put Jacksonville up 1-0, put the Panthers quickly tied it up in the bottom half of the inning when sophomore Oscar Aguirre scored on an RBI groundout by junior Zach Sweety. FIU stranded a runner at third base with one out in that inning.

After Elander struck out two of the three hitters he faced in the top of the fourth, Burns roped an RBI triple in the bottom half to score junior Josh Anderson from first. FIU had a 2-1 lead at that point.

Ricci tied the game back up at two in the fifth inning when he connected on his second round-tripper of the game. After a couple of silent innings, the bottom of the Dolphin lineup was back at it again when Ethan Loosen, Garrett Ruckel and Ricci hit three consecutive doubles to plate two runs. Jacksonville took a 4-2 lead to the bottom of the seventh.

In the seventh for FIU, Hibbert hit a one-out triple and then scored on a wild pitch to cut it to one. But Jacksonville scored four more runs in the top of the ninth to seal up the 8-3 victory.

FIU and Jacksonville will close out the two-game series tomorrow at 3 p.m. at the FIU Baseball Stadium. Tickets for all Panther baseball games start at $5 and can be purchased on FIUsports.com. Wednesday's game can also be viewed free of charge, via PantherVision on FIUsports.com.

Fans are encouraged to follow the Panthers on Twitter (@FIUBaseball) and become a fan on Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUBaseball) for all the latest FIU Baseball news. Follow all of FIU's 18 athletic teams on Google+ (FIU Athletics), Twitter (@FIUAthletics), Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUSports), YouTube (FIUPanthers), and Instagram (FIUathletics).

######

About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports, and is a proud member of the Sun Belt Conference and an affiliate member of Conference USA (men's soccer). Athletic events are played in seven different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including U.S. Century Bank Arena and Alfonso Field at FIU Stadium.

About FIU: Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. Its colleges and schools offer more than 180 bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU is worlds ahead in its local and global engagement, finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission and enrolls nearly 48,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. More than 140,000 alumni live and work in South Florida. FIU is a member of the Sun Belt Conference and has 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu