DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (May 3, 2023) – The FIU baseball team stopped a bottom of the ninth surge by Bethune-Cookman on Wednesday night to beat the Wildcats, 7-6, on the road.
 
Alec Sanchez extended is on-base streak in his first at bat, hitting a single through the right side, reaching first base for the 26th-straight game.
 
The top of the second inning would see the Panthers take a 2–0 lead.
 
Ryne Guida led off the inning and hit a solo home run over the right center field wall to open the scoring. Craig Palidar hit a double later in the inning and would eventually make it home after a wild pitch by Bethune-Cookman's Hylan Hall.
 
The bottom of the second saw starter Joel Pineiro register his first punchout as a Panther. After giving up a single to open the inning, Pineiro went on to strike out the next three batters.
 
Richie Pena would relieve Pineiro in the third and went on to shut down the Wildcats for four straight innings. During the run, he sat down seven batters in a row, finishing his outing allowing only one hit and striking out three.
 
The offensive flood gates opened for FIU in the top of the seventh as they scored five runs to go up 7-0.
 
Singles by Mike Rosario and Dante Girardi and an intentional walk of Guida loaded the bases for Adrian Figueroa. Figueroa showed a great eye and drew a walk to push home Rosario.
 
Craig Palidar followed Figueroa and hit a two-run double to deep left field, with Roylan Quevedo capping off the offensive burst with a two-run single.
 
The Wildcats struck back in the bottom half of the inning to make the score 7-2.
 
Bethune-Cookman second baseman Derek Cintron doubled to left field to score the first run. Brian Perez followed his teammate up with a RBI single for the second run.
 
Bethune-Cookman mounted a comeback in the bottom of the ninth.
 
The inning opened walk, walk, walk, hit by pitch, hit by pitch and walk to make the score 7-5. Jason Hodges cut the lead to one with a sacrifice fly.
 
The Wildcat surge stopped there as the Panthers would hold on to win, 7-6.
 
UP NEXT
The Panthers are back at FIU Baseball Stadium this week to host Western Kentucky. Game one on Friday May 5 with first pitch set for 6:30 p.m.
 
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