MIAMI (May 31, 2015) – The FIU baseball team's 2015 season came to an end on Sunday with a 4-3 loss to the Columbia Lions (33-16) in Game 5 of the Coral Gables Regional.
Making their 11
th trip to the NCAA Regionals and seventh in Coral Gables, the Panthers' (30-31) bid to take on Miami (Fla.) in the regional championship game came up one run short.
FIU scored three runs on five hits, including an RBI-single by junior
Zack Soria (1-for-4). Senior
Josh Anderson (1-for-2) and junior
Austin Rodriguez (1-for-3) drove in FIU's second and third runs with RBI-sacrifice flies.
Sophomore starter
Cody Crouse (5-6) suffered the loss, allowing three runs on seven hits in four and one-third innings of action. The right-hander struck out two and walked two.
The Panthers took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first as Anderson recorded a sacrifice fly, scoring freshman
Jack Schaaf from third. Soria gave FIU a 2-0 lead with an RBI-single to right-center in the top of the second. With Rodriguez on second and two outs, the Panthers' right-fielder sent a 1-1 pitch to gap for a two-run lead.
Columbia tied the game in the bottom of the third, scoring two runs on a double down the left-field line by Robb Paller with the bases loaded and one out. The runs snapped a string of 18 and one-third innings of scoreless baseball for the Panther defense (an NCAA school record). The Lions took the lead in the bottom of the fifth with an RBI-single to right by Paller. An error by junior
Edwin Rios extended Columbia's lead to 4-2 later in the inning.
FIU cut the lead to 4-3 following Rodriguez' sac fly in the top of the eighth, but could not plate anymore runs, falling to Columbia.
The 2015 Conference USA Champions finished the season hitting .277 with 48 home runs and 326 RBI. The Panthers' pitching staff registered a 3.89 ERA with 436 strikeouts in 532 innings pitched. FIU had three All-C-USA honorees (Rios – first team; senior
Brian Portelli – second team; junior
Danny Dopico – second team) and five C-USA All-Tournament selections (Anderson – MVP; Rios; Portelli; senior
Julius Gaines; sophomore
Chris Mourelle).
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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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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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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. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that 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 contributes $8.9 billion each year to the local economy. FIU is Worlds Ahead in finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission. FIU has awarded over 200,000 degrees and enrolls more than 54,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA and has over 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.
