MIAMI – There's something special in the Miami air right now.
Kishon Frett blasted a walk-off three-run homer in the 10th inning to lift the FIU baseball program to a thrilling 7-5 win over No. 17 Western Kentucky on Sunday afternoon at FIU Baseball Stadium, securing a monumental series sweep.
"I'm just living in the moment, practicing everything for moments like that," said Frett. "I was fired up and ready — I knew I was going to get the opportunity."
With runners on first and second and one out, Frett launched his team-leading 17th home run deep into left-center field, setting a new personal best for homers in a single season and has 10 homers in CUSA play, which leads the conference.
FIU (26-18, 9-8 CUSA) earned its first series sweep over a ranked opponent since May 19-21, 2016, against No. 13 Southern Miss. The Panthers have now won four straight games, clinching their first Conference USA sweep of the season and their first home conference sweep since May 18-20, 2017 — also against Western Kentucky.
Western Kentucky (34-10, 11-7 CUSA) jumped out early, taking advantage of a fielding error to score two runs in the first inning. The Hilltoppers added another run in the third with an RBI single from Ryan Wideman to make it 3-0.
FIU responded in the fourth as Austin Dearing recorded his first career triple and later scored on an Andrew Ildefonso sacrifice fly. Brendan Roney followed with a solo home run to cut the deficit to one.
The Hilltoppers tacked on a run in the fifth on a sacrifice fly, but FIU answered in the bottom half. Cole Cleveland reached on an infield single and scored on an Adonys Velez RBI groundout, before Brylan West tied the game 4-4 with a solo home run — his ninth of the season.
After Western Kentucky regained the lead with a solo homer in the top of the 10th, the Panthers battled back. Hector Candelas and Albert Serrano both reached base after being hit by pitches, setting the stage for Frett's walk-off heroics.
On the mound, Owen Puk made the Sunday start, tossing two innings and allowing one earned run with two strikeouts. David Eckaus followed with 2.2 innings of relief, giving up two runs. Freshman Bryce Turner threw 1.1 scoreless innings, and Jaydon Bishop added 1.2 shutout frames. Tracen Cameron surrendered the Hilltoppers' 10th-inning homer, but Tristan Dietrich recorded the final two outs to earn his first career win.
Offensively, FIU finished with seven hits. Cleveland and Roney each recorded multi-hit performances, with Cleveland extending his hitting streak to six games. Roney capped the weekend with five hits across the series, while Dearing, Frett, and West each added a hit in the finale.
UP NEXT
FIU heads to Boca Raton, Fla. for a midweek contest at Florida Atlantic on Tuesday, April 29. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. and can be streamed on FAUSports.TV.
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