MIAMI (April 24, 2022) – In the final midweek of the 2022 season, the FIU baseball team tamed the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats by a score of 7-1.
 
Ten Panther pitchers combined to stifle the Wildcat offense on Tuesday night by striking out 14 batters.
 
Panther starter Christian Santana and reliever David Eckaus each struck out the side in their lone innings of work, while Owen Puk picked up the first win of his young FIU career.
 
Offensively, the trio of Steven Ondina, Adrian Figueroa and Ruben Carpio led the way for FIU at the dish. The threesome each collected a pair of hits. Figueroa and Carpio also had one RBI each. 
 
Bryan Loriga and Rey Hernandez both had two-run home runs to put the game out of reach for the Panthers. Loriga's no-doubter in the sixth was the freshman's first in a Panther uniform.
 
Panther freshman Tony Casanova reached base for the first time in his career when he was hit by a pitch in the eighth inning during a pinch hit appearance.
 
The FIU bats made their presence known early and often on Tuesday when the Blue & Gold plated a pair of runs in the first. Alec Sanchez scored the first run of the evening on a Figueroa double down the left field line. Figueroa scored one at-bat later when Jorge Ramirez singled to right to make it 2-0 home guys after one.
 
In the fourth, Matthew Gonzalez worked a one-out walk and later scored after a Bethune-Cookman wild pitch, a Wildcat error and a Carpio single.
 
Two batters later, Hernandez launched his second home run of the season over the right field wall to score Carpio and made it 5-0 Panthers after four in the books.
 
The final two Panther runs of the night came in the sixth when Loriga turned on a 0-1 pitch and put it over the fence in left. Gonzalez scored on the moon shot after singling earlier in the inning.
 
The lone Bethune-Cookman run came in the ninth inning when the Wildcats ended the shutout with one out.
 
UP NEXT
FIU returns to Conference USA play on Friday as the Panthers head to Boca Raton for a three-game series with the FAU Owls. The first pitch of the series opener is slated for 6:30 p.m. ET.
   
SOCIAL MEDIA
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