MIAMI – FIU's baseball program fell 11-9 to the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders Friday evening at FIU Baseball Stadium in Conference USA (CUSA) play.
Opening their final home weekend of the season, FIU (15-34, 6-19 CUSA) fell behind early after Middle Tennessee erupted for eight runs in the second inning to take an 8-0 advantage.
The Panthers answered in the bottom half as
Aidan Cohall launched an opposite-field solo homer to left for his fourth home run of the season. Later in the inning,
Samuel Fischer was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to bring home FIU's second run.
Middle Tennessee added a solo homer in the fourth to stretch the lead to 9-2 before FIU responded with a four-run inning to cut the deficit to three.
Following a
Hector Candelas single,
Cole Cleveland ripped a triple down the right-field line for his second triple of the season.
Mario Trivella followed with an RBI single to left to score Cleveland before
Cooper Rasmussen and
Andrew Ildefonso each added RBI base hits to make it 9-6 after four innings.
The Blue Raiders added another run in the sixth, but FIU continued to battle in the bottom half. Cohall delivered a two-run single into left-center field to trim the deficit to 10-8.
The Panthers closed within one in the eighth as Trivella blasted a solo homer to center field for his team-leading 12th home run of the season, making it a 10-9 contest. Middle Tennessee answered with a solo homer in the ninth and held on for the series-opening victory.
On the mound, FIU used five pitchers.
Preston Prince suffered the loss after allowing five earned runs over 1.1 innings with two strikeouts in his 10th start of the season.
Tracen Cameron tossed a season-high 3.1 innings with three earned runs and two strikeouts.
Jordan Vargas worked 1.1 innings, while
Cooper Foster struck out two in one inning of relief.
Enrique Sierra closed out the game with two innings, allowing one earned run while striking out four.
Offensively, FIU recorded 11 hits with four Panthers posting multi-hit performances. Cohall, Ildefonso, Rasmussen, and Trivella each tallied two hits. Rasmussen reached base three times with a double and single, while Ildefonso added a double, single, and two RBI. Cohall drove in three runs with his homer and two-run single, while Trivella added a single and home run. Fischer reached base twice with a walk and hit-by-pitch, while
Marc Hersh extended his hitting streak to seven games. Candelas and Cleveland also added base hits.
UP NEXT
FIU prepares for game two of the series on Saturday, May 9 at 3 PM. It will be streamed live on ESPN+ from FIU Baseball Stadium.
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BAPTIST HEALTH
The 2026 FIU baseball season is presented by Baptist Health, The Official Sports Medicine Provider of FIU Athletics
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