MIAMI (May 10, 2015) – Sophomore
Chris Mourelle pitched a one-hit, shutout through seven innings on Sunday afternoon as the FIU baseball team (24-27, 12-15 C-USA) defeated UAB (28-22, 13-14 C-USA), 7-1, from the FIU Baseball Stadium.
Mourelle allowed just one hit and struck out six in seven innings of action to even his record to 6-6 on the year. The right-hander gave up just one walk after serving four-straight balls to the very first batter he faced. Mourelle proceeded to retire the next 14 batters before giving up the only hit he allowed, a two-out single in the top of the fifth.
FIU rattled off 13 hits versus the Blazers. Five Panthers recorded multiple hits in the game, including seniors
Josh Anderson (2-for-3 with a run scored) and
Brian Portelli (2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored), who were playing in the final home game of their FIU careers. Anderson, Portelli and
Julius Gaines were recognized before the game as the team's three seniors. Gaines went 1-for-4 with a run scored.
Four of the Panthers' runs were produced via the home run as freshman
Jack Schaaf (2-for-4), junior
Edwin Rios (2-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored) and Portelli each recorded homers in the contest. Rios got FIU on the board in the bottom of the first with a solo shot over the right-field fence, his Conference USA-leading 17
th bomb of the season. Portelli recorded his fourth home run of the season in the fifth, while Schaaf drove in two with one swing for his second long ball of the year.
The Panthers plated runs in the first, third fifth before busting the score wide-open with a four-run sixth to take a 7-0 lead. The Blazers scored their one run in the top of the ninth, but that was all they could muster as FIU went on for the victory.
With the win, FIU remains in eighth place in the C-USA standings and has a two-game lead over Marshall and Charlotte. Five of the eight spots in this year's C-USA Baseball Championships (May 20-24) in Hattiesburg, Miss., have been claimed (Rice, Middle Tennessee, Florida Atlantic, Southern Miss, UTSA) with six teams battling for the remaining three slots as teams head into the final weekend of action.
The Panthers will travel to Houston, Texas, to take on the Rice Owls in a three-game C-USA set beginning Thursday, May 14. First pitch for the series opener is set for 7:30 p.m. ET.
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