DELAND, Florida (March 19, 2021) – The FIU baseball team shocked the Wichita State Shockers on Friday afternoon by a score of 11-2, behind a strong pitching performance from Tyler Myrick and a late-inning offensive explosion from the Panther bats.

Myrick earned his third win of the season after striking out six Shockers in seven innings of work. Angel Tiburcio and Will Saxton pitched two scoreless innings in relief to hold WSU to just two runs on Friday.

The Panther offense came alive in the later innings on Friday, with a season-high 11 runs scored in the final three frames. The 15 hits for FIU, including six in the eighth inning alone, are a season-high for the Panthers. The previous high was 14 against UIC on Feb. 20. 

Luis Chavez drove home Adrian Figueroa to tie the game at 1-1 in the seventh, before back-to-back RBI singles down the right-field line from Dante Girardi and Steven Ondina gave FIU a 3-1 lead at the stretch. 

The Shockers got a run back with a solo homer in bottom half of the seventh, before the Panthers exploded for six runs in the eighth inning. Figueroa's two-run double and Ondina's two-run triple highlighted the scoring outburst for the inning. WSU walked in two more Panthers in the ninth as the winning score ballooned to 11-2 in favor of FIU.

Ondina finished the day with a game-high four RBI, while Figueroa and Girardi drove in a pair of runs each. Juan Teixeira and Figueroa both went 3-for-5 at the plate on Friday, as the Panther duo accounted for six of FIU's 15 hits. 

UP NEXT
FIU takes on host-Stetson on Saturday. First pitch is set for 2 p.m., and can be streamed on ESPN+.

SOCIAL MEDIA
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