MIAMI (April 11, 2021) –  On a steamy South Florida afternoon, the FIU baseball team fell 9-5 to the visiting Charlotte 49ers on Sunday.
 
Catcher Luis Chavez led the Panther offense with two base knocks that included an RBI double off the centerfield wall in the fifth inning. In his first start since the Old Dominion series, Mario Zabala drove in a pair of runs as well on the afternoon.
 
Charlotte jumped out to a 6-0 lead over the first two innings, before Richie Pena tossed 3.1 scoreless innings to hold the 49ers at bay.
 
Zabala's RBI double in the home half of the second got the Panthers on the scoreboard at 6-1, which was followed by a Justin Farmer RBI single in the third and then a Chavez double in the fifth to cut the deficit in half at 6-3.
 
The 49ers scored three in the sixth to make it 9-3, while the Panthers plated a pair in the ninth and threatened with the bases loaded before the comeback was halted at 9-5. 
 
UP NEXT
The road beckons as the Panthers head to West Virginia on Friday to open a four-game weekend series at Marshall.   

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