MIAMI (Feb. 25, 2015) – The FIU baseball team (4-4) returns home to host the Manhattan Jaspers in a four-game, weekend series beginning Friday, Feb. 27. First pitch from the FIU Baseball Stadium is set for 7:00 p.m. ET.
The series will continue with a doubleheader on Saturday, Feb. 28, at 2:00 p.m. and will wrap up on Sunday, March 1, at 1:00 p.m.
On Friday, right-hander
Cody Crouse (0-0, 3.60 ERA, 10K) will take the mound for the Panthers. The Jaspers (0-4) will throw right-handed hurler Scott McClennan (0-1, 18.00 ERA, 3K). During Saturday's double-dip, freshman
Andres Nunez (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 5K) will start for FIU in game one and will face Joey Rocchietti (0-0, 1.50 ERA, 2K). Game two will feature right-hander
Garrett Cave (0-1. 2.89 ERA, 6K) versus left-hander Joe Jacques (0-1, 13.50 ERA). In the Sunday's finale, sophomore
Chris Mourelle (1-1, 1.69 ERA, 7K) will get the start and will square off against Tom Cosgrove (0-0, 6.75 ERA, 2K).
Fans can listen to FIU's @PetePelegrin for all of this weekend's action on the
FIU Sports Radio Network.
The Panthers are coming off a week in which the team went 2-3, with a 12-2 loss at Stetson and a 2-2 showing at the 16
th Annual Caravelle Resort's Baseball at the Beach Tournament in Conway, S.C. FIU dropped the first two games of the weekend tournament to ACC foes Georgia Tech (16-9) and N.C. State (3-1) before taking a pair from N.C. Central.
FIU comes into this weekend hitting .221 with four home runs and 29 RBI. Freshman
Eddie Silva comes into the Manhattan series hitting .333 with one home run and three RBI. Silva registered the first home run of his FIU career during the Panthers' 3-1 loss to N.C. State (Feb. 21). Also recording his first-career home run was freshman
Jack Schaaf, who blasted a two-run, walk-off homer in the bottom of the 13
th versus N.C. Central (Feb. 22). Senior
Brian Portelli leads Conference USA with eight doubles, while hitting .310 with four RBI.
On the hill, FIU has a 3.65 team ERA. The Panthers have struck out 69 opposing batters (No. 2 in C-USA), while holding the opposition to a .258 batting average. Nunez leads all starting pitchers with a 0.00 ERA. The Pembroke Pines, Fla., native has yet to give up an earned run in three appearances (eight and two-thirds innings pitched). Mourelle has pitched a team-high 10 and two-thirds innings and has a 1.69 ERA (No. 10 in C-USA). Entering the week, FIU is the only conference team with multiple shutout wins (2).
The Panthers and Jaspers have met a total of 12 times prior to this weekend's series with the Panthers holding a 9-3 advantage in the series history. The last meeting between the two teams resulted in an 8-7 win for FIU on Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013. The win completed the three-game series sweep for the Panthers as Head Coach
Turtle Thomas is 3-0 all-time versus Manhattan.
##### 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 Ocean Bank 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 54,000 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.
