RUSTON, La. – The FIU baseball team fell against Louisiana Tech, dropping Sunday's contest, 13–5, at J.C. Love Field at Pat Patterson Park.
The originally scheduled Saturday game was suspended after one inning due to inclement weather and rescheduled for a Sunday doubleheader. However, lightning in the area delayed the resumption of Game 2 until 12 p.m., and Game 3 was ultimately canceled in accordance with Conference USA travel policies, as FIU faced a travel curfew.
FIU (20–12, 4–4 C-USA) got off to a hot start with Kishon Frett launching his team-leading 10th home run of the season to straightaway center field in the first inning. That solo shot was the lone run before the game was halted on Saturday.
Louisiana Tech (20–12, 6–2 C-USA) responded with a solo homer in the second inning to even the score. The Panthers reclaimed the lead in the third, beginning with an RBI single from Frett. Javier Crespo then grounded a single up the middle to score Frett and Andrew Ildefonso, giving FIU a 4–1 advantage.
The Bulldogs answered with a three-run homer in the bottom half of the third to tie the game again, then took the lead with two more runs in the fourth inning to go up 6–4.
After Louisiana Tech added a sacrifice fly in the sixth, FIU trimmed the deficit to 7–5 in the eighth inning when Brylan West crushed his eighth home run of the year down the left-field line. However, the Bulldogs erupted for six runs in the bottom of the eighth to seal the win.
On the mound, Owen Puk opened Sunday's resumed game with a scoreless first inning. Juan Villarreal followed and allowed four earned runs over 1.1 innings. Logan Runde was tagged with the loss, his third of the season, after giving up two runs on four hits across two innings. Jaydon Bishop surrendered one run in an inning of work, while Kevin Martin logged 0.2 scoreless innings with a strikeout. David Eckaus yielded two runs in one inning, and Tracen Cameron and Jarek Woodward closed things out, with Woodward tossing 0.2 scoreless innings and recording a strikeout.
Offensively, FIU collected nine hits. Frett and West each recorded multi-hit games, with West extending his multi-hit streak to five games (12 total hits during that stretch). Ildefonso has now hit safely in 11 of his last 12 contests. Crespo, Austin Dearing, and Brendan Roney each added singles, while Kareh Valentin notched his fourth double of the season.
UP NEXT
FIU travels to Fort Myers, Fla. to close out their nine-game road swing on Tuesday, April 8 at 6 p.m from Swanson Stadium.
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