MIAMI – The FIU baseball program shined offensively, taking down the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs, 14-3 in game one of a three-game weekend conference set from FIU Baseball Stadium Thursday night.
 
With the victory, FIU improves to a overall record of 14-12 alongside a 5-2 conference mark, which is the best start through seven games as a member of Conference USA in their program history.
 
The offense cruised along once again, logging 15 hits as a ballclub, recording now 11 games with 10+ hits as a team. Five Panthers in the heart of the order logged multi-hit efforts (Austin Dearing, Ryne Guida, Jeff Liquori, Brendan Roney, and Alex Ulloa).
 
Dearing and Ulloa paced the way for the Panthers, each notching three-hit games and upping their respective batting streaks. Dearing went 3-for-6 with a solo shot in the eighth, logging his on-base streak to 14 games with 19 hits in that span. Ulloa continues to see the ball well, boosting his hitting streak to nine games and overall batting average to over. 400 through 26 games played.
 
With the bat, Guida and Liquori came alive in clutch moments each adding with a two-hit game and a combined three RBI. Liquori extended his hitting streak to ten games with 18 hits and 13 RBI in that span.
 
FIU took a quick lead in the first as Ulloa singled into right field, bringing around Dearing to put the Panthers up a run.
 
In the second, the Panthers racked up six runs in the frame, started by a two-run double in the left centerfield gap off the bat of Guida. Kishon Frett added an RBI on a hit by pitch before a two-run single from Brendan Roney that gave FIU a 7-2 cushion.
 
Louisiana Tech slowly charged back with three runs combined in the third and fourth innings to cut the deficit to three. FIU strung together a five-run sixth inning, which was all the Panthers needed to secure the game one victory. Liquori started the scoring spree with a RBI base knock before Andre Martinez and Samuel Fischer each walked to bring home runs. With the bases full, Adrian Figueroa lined a baseball into right field, scoring a pair to lead 12-4 after six.
 
Dearing provided an insurance run on a solo homer, his fourth of the year, in the eighth.
 
On the mound, Cameron Knox made his fifth start of the campaign, allowing three earned runs over 3.2 innings and a pair of strikeouts. In the middle innings, Logan Runde was sensational, giving up no runs over 2.1 innings thrown.
 
The backend of the pen cruised along as the one-two punch of Orlando Hernandez and Ryan Cabarcas came in to shut the door. Hernandez added to his scoreless innings streak up to 12.2 as he fired two innings with three punchouts earning his second win of the year. Cabarcas rang a scoreless frame in the ninth to secure the Panthers fifth CUSA victory of the season.

UP NEXT
FIU prepares for the middle game of the weekend series against Louisiana Tech on Friday, March. 29 for a 6:30 p.m. first pitch from FIU Baseball Stadium. It can be streamed live on ESPN+.

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