MIAMI (May 9, 2015) – Unable to overcome a five run deficit, the FIU baseball team (23-27, 11-15 C-USA) fell to the UAB Blazers (28-21, 13-13 C-USA), 5-3, on Saturday evening from the FIU Baseball Stadium.
The Blazers scored two runs in the first, one run in the second and two runs in the third to take a 5-0 lead early in the contest. FIU battled back scoring two in the bottom of the fifth as freshman
Spencer Levine (1-for-4) drove in the Panthers' first run with an RBI-single. Senior
Julius Gaines (1-for-4) scored the team's second run of the inning, crossing the plate as UAB converted one of its two double plays on the day.
Junior
Edwin Rios (1-for-3) blasted his 16
th home run of the season with a solo shot over the right-field fence into the preserve to cut the deficit to 5-3 in the bottom of the eighth.
However, Thomas Lowery (7-3), who replaced starter Alex Luna in the fifth, kept FIU off the board for the remainder of the contest to earn the victory.
FIU starter
Cody Crouse (4-5) was saddled with the loss, allowing five runs on seven hits with five strike outs and three run in eight innings of action.
The final game of the weekend series will take place on Sunday. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. ET. Prior to the game FIU will honor its three seniors (
Josh Anderson, Gaines and
Brian Portelli) who will be playing in the final home game of their Panther careers.
##### 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.
