MIAMI (March 20, 2022) – On a steamy South Florida Sunday afternoon, the FIU baseball team silenced the Thundering Herd of Marshall by a score of 13-3 to take the opening weekend of Conference USA play for the first time since 2015.
 
Led by Bryan Loriga and Alec Sanchez, the Panther bats exploded for a seven-run first and a six-run fifth to run-rule Marshall in seven innings.
 
Loriga, a freshman, had the best day of his young FIU career by driving in three runners on three hits during the scoring barrage. Sanchez added his team-leading sixth home run of 2022 with a grand slam of his own in the fifth.
 
The thunder and lightning duo of Dalton Hurst and Jorge Ramirez added depth to the FIU attack with the pair each plating two runs on two hits. Jayden Melendez also tallied two hits while scoring twice.
 
Carlos Lequerica dazzled on the mound for his first win of the season. The righty tossed five scoreless innings with six strikeouts and ended his outing retiring nine-straight Marshall batters.
 
Angel Tiburcio returned to form on Sunday afternoon by pitching a scoreless 1.2 innings of work to solidify the series win for FIU.
 
After a scoreless top of the first by Lequerica, FIU scored early and often in the bottom half of the frame which was highlighted by a two-run RBI single by Ramirez to open the scoring at 2-0 before a Loriga double down the left field line scored Melendez and Rey Hernandez to make it 6-0.  Lorgia scored one batter later on a Hurst single to right to cap the seven-run first.
 
A pair of Marshall errors in the fifth scored two more Panthers before Sanchez stepped to the plate in a bases loaded situation with one out. In a 0-1 count, Sanchez sent one soaring in the FIU Nature Preserve beyond the right field wall for the Panthers' second grand slam in as many days to make it 13-0.
 
Marshall scored three times in the top of the sixth before Tiburcio slammed the door shut for the 13-3 victory.
 
UP NEXT
FIU will leave the state of Florida for the first time all season on March 25^th as the Panthers head to Louisiana Tech for first road weekend of 2022.  
  
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