DAYTONA BEACH, Florida (April 16, 2019) – To open a five-game road swing, the FIU baseball team raced past the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats by a score of 7-4 on Tuesday night.
The Panthers improve to 16-20 overall before returning to Conference USA on Friday against Old Dominion. Bethune-Cookman slides to 14-25
Christian Dearman earned his first-career win on Tuesday night pitching 3.2 innings of one-run ball in relief. Alec Mendez was given the loss after going six innings and giving up five runs.
Four different Panthers had a multiple-hit night, including
Jose Garcia,
Austin Shenton,
Jarrett Ford and
Luis Chavez. The trio of
Derek Cartaya and
Adan Fernandez joined Garcia in having a pair of RBIs on the evening.
Bethune-Cookman jumped out to a 3-0 lead by scoring two in the first and one in the second before
Kaeber Rog started the comeback with a leadoff single in the third. Shenton followed up a single to right, before Fernandez stepped to the plate with two outs. Fernandez plated both Panthers with a single and came home to score when Garcia homered to left for his fifth dinger in as many games. The Garcia home run, his seventh of the season, put FIU up 4-3 and the Panthers never looked back.
The Panthers added another run in the fourth when Cartaya beat out a double play ball with the hit-and-run on to score Chavez from second to make it 5-3 FIU.
The Wildcats answered with a run in the fifth to cut the lead to 5-4. Shenton led off the seventh with a base knock to center before
Danny Perez was called on to pinch run. Perez scored two batters later when Bethune-Cookman committed two errors on a
Logan Allen ground ball to third.
FIU added an insurance run in the eighth when Ford recorded his second hit of the night before proceeding to steal second and third. He strolled the last 90-feet home when Cartaya singled him home.
Things got a little hairy in the ninth with the tying run coming to the plate three different times, but
Jan Figueroa slammed the door shut for his team-leading fifth save to preserve a 7-4 FIU victory.
UP NEXT
The road trip continues through the weekend with a three-game set at Old Dominion before a matchup with cross-town foe Miami on April 24th.
SOCIAL MEDIA
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