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13
Winner FIU FIU 16-30
12
UAB UAB 28-21
Winner
FIU FIU
16-30
13
Final
12
UAB UAB
28-21
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
FIU FIU 3 0 1 0 2 2 0 0 5 13 16 2
UAB UAB 0 0 0 0 1 0 4 4 3 12 16 4

W: Pena, Richie (2-3) L: Collin Taylor (2-1) S: Figueroa, Jan (1)

Game Recap: Baseball |

FIU Outslugs UAB To Take Series

Panthers look to break out the brooms on Sunday

BIRMINGHAM (May 14, 2022) – In a game that saw 14 pitchers used, 32 hits collected, 25 runs scored and nearly an hour rain delay, the FIU baseball team outlasted the UAB Blazers 13-12 to take the weekend series.
 
Saturday was the first time that the Panthers won back-to-back games since the opening series of Conference USA play against Marshall on March 18-19.
 
Despite only pitching 0.1 inning and surrendering two runs, Richie Pena picked up the win and improved to 2-3 on the mound. Jan Figueroa picked up his first save since April 16, 2021 and the seventh of his career.
 
Offensively, every Panther that stepped to the plate had a base knock for a season-high 16 hits. Noel Perez led the hit parade with three of his own while the FIU quartet of Adrian Figueroa, Matthew Gonzalez, Dante Girardi and Jayden Melendez each tallied two hits.
 
Figueroa and Girardi also drove in three runs on the afternoon with Mario Zabala pushing across two more.
 
Ruben Carpio extended this hitting streak to 10 games with a leadoff double in the third.
 
Also at the dish, FIU tied season-highs with 13 runs scored and six doubles.
 
Panther starter Carlos Lequerica tossed four frames of one-run ball while only fanning one Blazer during his outing.
 
The wild and wacky instant classic on Saturday started with one of the four UAB errors on the day that allowed FIU leadoff man Steven Ondina to reach in the first.
 
FIU got on the board early and often by scoring three runs in the top of the first to chase the UAB starter after only six batters.
 
Alec Sanchez scored the opening run of the afternoon when Gonzalez slapped a single to left field to load the bases. Figueroa crossed home one batter later when Robert Sotolongo walked to make it 2-0. The final run of the frame came when Carpio scampered home on a fielder's choice off the bat of Girardi for the 3-0 advantage after one.
 
Carpio scored again in the third thanks to another Blazer error that pushed the FIU lead to 4-0 with three in the books.
 
FIU added a pair in the fifth when Gonzalez scored on the third UAB error of the day off the bat of Girardi. The Panther second baseman stole home two batters later on a Blazers appeal play to second.
 
UAB cut the score to 6-1 by getting on the board with a single run in the home half of the fifth.
 
The Blue & Gold answered in the sixth when Carpio and Figueroa scored on a two-run single by Girardi to make 8-1 when the rains came in the middle of the sixth.
 
After a 50-minute rain delay, UAB stormed all the way back to take a 9-8 lead after plating four runs in the seventh and eighth innings.
 
Just like the night before, the cardiac comeback cats arrived in the top of the ninth to take control of the game for good. The ninth opened with three-straight singles and a fielder's choice to load the bases. Friday's hero Figueroa reprised his role and promptly unloaded the bases with a double to right center putting FIU out front 11-9.
 
After coming in as a defensive replacement, Zabala ultimately put the game out of reach by launching his first home run since March 15 against USF over the right field wall to make it 13-9.
 
The dramatics continued in the home half of the ninth when UAB scored three before a strikeout ended the back-and-forth 13-12 affair.
 
UP NEXT
FIU will go for the weekend sweep of UAB at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday. The series finale can be streamed on ESPN+.
 
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.
 
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