MIAMI (February 19, 2021) – Behind four hits off the bat of Alec Sanchez, the FIU baseball team walked off St. Thomas (Minn.) by a score of 4-3 on Opening Night of the 2022 campaign. 
 
Angel Tiburcio tossed a spotless 2.2 innings of scoreless ball after a 70-minute rain delay to pick up the first win of the season.
 
The walk-off is the first for the Panthers since FIU walked off WKU on April 2, 2021.
 
Sanchez paced the FIU bats, contributing on all four of the Panther's runs by scoring two runs and driving in two more.
 
In his first game in the Panther pinstripes, Noel Perez opened the scoring in the bottom of the first with a one-out two-run single to right giving FIU an early 2-0 lead.
 
St. Thomas (Minn.) stormed back in the fifth with a trio of runs to take a 3-2 advantage following a slew of Panther errors.
 
After the rains came in the top of the seventh, Sanchez showed out by clobbering a dinger to left for his first home run the season to tie the game at 3-all.
 
The fireworks in the ninth started when Steven Ondina slashed a single to left that got past the Tommies' left fielder resulting in sophomore shortstop ending up at third. Sanchez ended the game on the next pitch with a single off the right-center wall.
 
In a no-decision performance, Patrick Pridgen went 4.2 innings with eight strikeouts.
 
UP NEXT
 The series continues on Saturday at 1 p.m., with a doubleheader slated between FIU and St. Thomas (Minn.) 
 
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