LYNCHBURG, Va. – The No. 6 seed FIU baseball program saw its 2025 season come to a close following a 8-0 loss to No. 3 seed Kennesaw State in an elimination game at the Conference USA Championships on Friday afternoon from Worthington Field at Liberty Baseball Stadium.
With the defeat, FIU finishes the season with an overall record of 31-27—the program's most wins since 2017 and the highest total under third-year head coach Rich Witten. The Panthers' 13 conference victories also mark their best league performance since 2018.
Kennesaw State broke the game open early with a five-run second inning, capitalizing on a pair of singles and an FIU error. The Owls added two more in the third via an RBI single and a sacrifice fly. Kennesaw State added a lone run on a RBI in the eighth.
Juan Villarreal made his sixth start of the year on the mound for the Panthers, allowing six runs across two innings of work.
Freshman Bryce Turner was a bright spot out of the bullpen, delivering a career-high four scoreless innings with three strikeouts and allowing just one hit. Turner finishes his debut season having allowed only one run over his final 15.2 innings, tallying 15 strikeouts during that stretch.
Tristan Dietrich followed with a scoreless seventh, and Ryan Reyerson pitched the eighth, yielding one run.
Offensively, FIU recorded six hits, highlighted by Kishon Frett's two-hit performance—his 16th multi-hit game of the season. Javier Crespo capped off his year on a 22-game on-base streak, while Cole Cleveland, Brendan Roney, and Alex Ulloa each added a base hit.
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