Box Score HATTIESBURG, Miss. (May 21, 2014) – The FIU baseball team (36-19) dropped it Conference USA opener to the Rice Owls on Wednesday afternoon, 9-2, at Peter Taylor Park in Hattiesburg, Miss. The Panthers will now take on Old Dominion in an elimination game on Thursday at 10 a.m. ET.
 
FIU tallied 11 hits in the loss, managing just two runs while leaving seven on base. Juniors Aramis Garcia and Brian Portelli had three hits apiece, with Garcia hitting a triple. Sophomore Edwin Rios and freshman Brandon Gomez drove in the runs for the Panthers.
 
Rice jumped out to a 2-0 lead in third inning on a sacrifice fly by Owls catcher John Clay Reeves and an RBI single by Michael Aquino. The Owls came back with a four-spot in the bottom of the fifth, which was highlighted by an RBI double to deep center by the Owls' Skyler Ewing.
 
FIU got on the board in the sixth as senior Tyler Hibbert would score the first run for the Panthers. Hibbert led off the inning with a single, then advanced to third on Garcia's one-out single. Rios delivered an RBI single to center to score Hibbert, cutting the Rice lead to 6-1. However the Owls would storm back with three in the bottom half of the sixth. FIU would add another on an RBI single by Gomez in the seventh, scoring Portelli, who singled earlier in the inning.
 
Junior Mike Franco will start for FIU at 10 a.m. ET versus Old Dominion on Thursday.
 
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).
 
#####
                                                                            
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 FIU Arena and at the FIU Football 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/.