MIAMI (March 12, 2016) -- Freshman pitcher Megan Kugelmann (Merritt Island, Florida / Cocoa Beach HS) tossed her fifth shutout in five starts and the FIU Panthers slugged a pair of two-run home runs in the fifth to run-rule the Charlotte 49ers 8-0 in five innings to sweep the Conference USA doubleheader Saturday afternoon at Felsberg Field at the FIU Softball Stadium. FIU is now 16-10, 2-0 in league play. Charlotte, which was receiving votes this week in the USA Today/NFCA Poll, falls to 16-6 overall, 0-2 in C-USA.
 
Kugelmann allowed just two hits in the five innings, striking out a career-high seven in the contest. She was fifth in the nation in hits allowed per seven innings entering the weekend. She retired the last 10 batters she faced in the shortened game. Panthers pitching and defense held the 49ers scoreless over the last 11 innings of the day. The 49ers were second to FIU in batting average (0.322) and run scoring (5.0), but only produced one run and six hits in the two games combined.
 
The Panthers scored first in the third inning against 49ers sophomore starter Haley Wiseman, who was third in the league with a 0.170 batting average-against mark entering the weekend. After a leadoff walk, Michaela Mills (Hastings, Minnesota) drove in the runner with an RBI single to right field for the go-ahead run. Mills had the walkoff RBI single in game one and doubled her RBI season total from two to four on the day.
 
FIU scored three times in the fourth, with RBI doubles from sophomore Erin Eiland (Gainesville, Florida / Buchholz HS) and freshman Jackie Schoff (Bradenton, Florida / Lakewood Ranch HS).
 
In the fifth, a two-run homer to left from second baseman Dani Mowry (Cocoa, Florida / Space Coast HS) put the Panthers up 6-0, and after a strikeout and a walk, the walkoff two-out, two-run homer came in the form of the first career blast from Eiland to end the game in 95 minutes.
 
Mowry and Eiland were the only players with two hits in the game. Eiland's three RBI were a career game-high total.
 
FIU collected 15 hits and 10 runs off the second-best earned run average (1.93) and batting average against (.200) in the league.
 
The two teams complete the series with a noon finale in Miami Sunday. 
 
About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports, and is a proud member of Conference USA. Athletic events are played in seven different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including FIU Arena and the FIU Football Stadium.
 
About FIU: Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offers 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 $9.8 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/.