MIAMI (April 14, 2019) – The FIU baseball team stumbled on Sunday afternoon to No. 30 Southern Miss by a score of 15-7.
The Panthers fall to 15-20 overall and 6-9 in Conference USA play. Southern Miss sits at 21-12 (11-4) after its weekend in Miami.
Franco Aleman was dealt the loss after giving up six runs over the opening four innings. USM's Mason Strickland was handed the win for pitching 5.2 innings of three-run ball in relief.
Austin Shenton and
Jose Garcia each tallied a pair of base knocks on the afternoon, while driving in multiple runs. Shenton had three RBIs on Sunday, while Garcia had two.
Derek Cartaya and
Javier Valdes also drove in one run each.
USM started the game with a leadoff home run, before Cartaya walked, stole second and scored on a Shenton single to center to tie the game at 1-1. Shenton came around to score on a Garcia double down the left field line to give FIU a 2-1 lead after one inning of play. The Panthers added another run in the second when Cartaya singled in
Juan Teixeira after reaching on a fielder's choice.
The Golden Eagles cut the lead to 3-2 in the third, before Garcia answered with a laser to center for his seventh homer of the season and fourth in four games to push the lead to 4-2.
USM countered with four runs in the fourth and three in the seventh to take a 9-4 lead. Shenton stopped the bleeding with a two-run shot of this own in the home half of the seventh to trim the deficit to 9-6. The Panther third baseman now has 34 RBIs to lead the squad.
The visitors scored four more in the eighth and two in the ninth before
Rhett Rutledge came home on a Valdes SAC fly in the ninth to bring the final score to 15-7.
UP NEXT
The road beckons for the Panthers once more as FIU travels to Daytona Beach for a midweek with Bethune-Cookman on April 16, before a weekend series at Old Dominion and a crosstown trek to Coral Gables to take on Miami to close out the five-game road trip on April 24.
SOCIAL MEDIA
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