BOWLING GREEN, KY – Logan Allen tossed eight shutout innings and Eddie Silva hit a home run for the third straight game to lead FIU past Western Kentucky, 8-4, Sunday afternoon at Nick Denes Field in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

With FIU winning Sunday and Middle Tennessee losing to Florida Atlantic, the Panthers clinched a berth in the Conference USA Baseball Tournament in Biloxi, Mississippi beginning May 23.

FIU (25-25, 14-12 Conference USA) swept WKU (21-29, 11-16 C-USA).

The Panthers scored 24 runs in the series and banged out six home runs, but with the way Allen pitched Sunday he didn't need much offensive support. Still, the freshman left-hander got it.

Allen (5-5) twirled eight clean innings where he allowed just four hits, one walk and struck out seven Hilltoppers.

Javier Valdes's RBI single in the second inning opened the scoring. Lorenzo Hampton, Jr.'s solo home run in the fourth made it 2-0.

The Panthers broke open the game with a four-run sixth inning with Silva in the middle of the action again.

Austin Shenton doubled to start the sixth. Silva then corked a line-drive two-run home run that wrapped inside the left field foul pole. The dinger was the 15^th of the season for Silva, who leads Conference USA.

Silva also tied six former FIU players for seventh on the FIU single-season home run list. The last player to accomplish the feat was JC Escarra, who hit 15 home runs for FIU last season.

RBI singles by Will Saxton, Jose Garcia and Derek Cartaya added to FIU's run total in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings.

On deck, FIU closes the regular season with a three-game home series against Rice beginning Thursday night from Infinity Insurance Park. The Panthers and Owls' series opener is at 7 p.m.