LYNCHBURG, Va. – The No. 6 seed FIU baseball team fought valiantly but came up just short, falling 7-6 to No. 3 seed Western Kentucky in the second round of the Conference USA Championship on Thursday afternoon.
Trailing 6-5 in the ninth, Alex Ulloa delivered a clutch, game-tying solo home run—his seventh of the season—to breathe life into the Panthers. However, the Hilltoppers (44-12) responded in the bottom half with a walk-off homer to secure the win and advance.
FIU (31-26) now faces an elimination game against Kennesaw State on Friday, May 23, at 2 p.m., with a spot in the semifinals on the line.
The Panthers came out swinging, jumping to an early 5-0 lead through the first two innings. After a two-out double by Andrew Ildefonso in the first, Austin Dearing launched a two-run homer to right to put FIU on the board. In the second, Cole Cleveland singled and Adonys Velez walked to set up catcher Brendan Roney, who crushed a three-run blast—his fourth home run of the year—to stretch the lead to 5-0.
Western Kentucky began chipping away, scoring two runs in both the second and third innings to cut the deficit to 5-4. The Hilltoppers then took the lead in the seventh with a two-run triple, making it 6-5 before Ulloa's late-game heroics in the ninth briefly tied it.
Logan Runde got the start for FIU, allowing two earned runs on seven hits in 2.1 innings of work. Tracen Cameron pitched 1.2 scoreless innings, inducing two key double plays. Kevin Martin tossed a season-high four innings, giving up two earned runs while striking out one on 78 pitches. Jarek Woodward took the mound in the ninth and surrendered the walk-off homer.
FIU totaled nine hits, with every Panther reaching base at least once. Cleveland led the offense with two hits, while Brylan West extended his hitting streak to 10 games and Javier Crespo stretched his on-base streak to 20 games.
UP NEXT
FIU plays tomorrow on Friday, May 23 vs No. 3 Kennesaw State in a elimination game. First pitch is set for 2 p.m. and can be streamed on ESPN+.
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