Box Score MIAMI (March 21, 2013) – FIU baseball improved its Conference USA record to 4-3 with a 3-1 victory over the Marshall Thundering Herd on Friday night. With the victory, the Panthers improve to 18-4 overall on the 2014 season.
Junior right hander
Mike Franco set the tone early for the Panthers, as the first nine outs of the game he recorded were strikeouts. The Texas native allowed six hits in six innings of work, striking out a total of 10 batters while walking just one. Sophomore
Charles Cormier, senior
Mitchell Davis and senior
Mike Gomez combined for three shutout innings of relief. Gomez earned his 20th career save, leaving him just four away from breaking FIU's all-time saves record.
Freshman
Brandon Gomez and senior
Tyler Hibbert each extended their career-high hitting streaks to 12 and 11 games, respectively. Junior
Roche Woodard and sophomore
Edwin Rios each had two hits for the Panthers. Woodard's second hit came on an eighth inning solo home run to extend FIU's lead to 3-1.
The Panthers struck first in the second inning as Gomez and freshman J.C. Escarra each reached on singles with nobody out. Later in the inning, Woodard reached on an infield hit to score Gomez for the first of his two RBI, giving FIU a 1-0 lead. Then in the third inning, with two outs, junior
Aramis Garcia, who reached on a walk earlier in the inning, scored from third on a passed ball to give FIU a 2-0 lead.
Marshall got its one and only run in the top of the sixth on an RBI single from Chase Vogelbach.
Woodard came up with a key insurance run in the eighth, belting his fourth career home run to left. Woodard's round tripper came with two outs.
FIU is back in action at 4 p.m. tomorrow. Freshman right-hander
Cody Crouse will start for the Panthers.
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 Twitter (@FIUAthletics), Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUSports), YouTube (FIUPanthers), and Instagram (FIUathletics).
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Season tickets for the FIU baseball season are on sale. Tickets for the 2014 campaign cost just $50 per ticket for all fans this year. Fans can purchase tickets online, over the phone by calling 305-FIU-GAME, or in person at the R. Kirk Landon Fieldhouse Box Office. Student admission is free to all FIU baseball home games.
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About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports. 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 bachelor¹s, master¹s and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida¹s 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. FIU has awarded 200,000 degrees and enrolls 50,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. FIU is a member of Conference USA and has 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.
