MIAMI (April 15, 2022) – On a muggy and damp night for baseball in South Florida, the FIU baseball team dropped the middle game of its three-game series with the No. 11 Southern Miss Golden Eagles by a score of 12-4.
 
Dante Girardi accounted for three of the Panthers' nine hits on Friday evening and drove in a pair of runs in the process. In this return to the starting lineup, Matthew Gonzalez also drove in a run. 
 
Mario Zabala had the only Panther extra base hit on the night when the sophomore outfielder doubled to right in the third to help set up a run. Zabala scored later in the inning by stealing home in a double steal. 
 
Zabala, Girardi and Robert Sotolongo each swiped a bag in the game. 
 
Panther reliever Richie Pena was pegged with the defeat after allowing two runs over two innings of work.
 
FIU and Southern Miss traded runs over the opening three innings before a Girardi single up the middle scored Alec Sanchez and Steven Ondina to give the Blue & Gold a 4-3 advantage after three. 
 
The Golden eagles tied the game at four-all in the fifth before scoring four in the seventh, one in the eighth and three more in the ninth for the 12-4 final to take the series. 
 
UP NEXT
The series finale between FIU and Southern Miss is slated for noon on Saturday. The game can be streamed on CUSA.tv. 
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
Get all the latest information on the team by following @FIUBaseball on Facebook and @FIUBaseball on Twitter and Instagram. General athletic news can also be found at @FIUSports on Facebook and @FIUAthletics on Twitter and Instagram.