By: Brandon Wise/ Staff Writer
In a game that came down to the final at bat, the Golden Panthers took on the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers. The game had its ups and downs for both teams but in the end, Pablo Bermudez’s tenth inning single was the difference as the Golden Panthers edged WKU 9-8.
The Panthers had their struggles early on, starting out down 5-0, but when it came to crunch time, the bats were nothing but clutch.
“That was a pretty wild one. When you’re down to your last strike twice and you go base hit, that’s a pretty good job,” Coach Turtle Thomas said of his team’s play Sunday. “They showed good resolve and good and good resiliency.”
In the top of the third, the lead off man for the Hilltoppers, Casey Dykes, drew a walk. Following two consecutive line outs, Western Kentucky’s Ivan Hartle tripled to center to bring home the first run of the game.
After surrendering the lead in the top of the inning, catcher Joel Capote led off with a double to center. But later on he would be caught trying to steal third.
After Kes Carter led off the inning with a single to center, Ryan Hutchinson then homered to deep center and extended the Hilltopper lead to 3-0. Casey Dykes then followed up with another single. Chris Bullard then homered to dead center to make the lead 5-0.
With two outs in the fifth, the Golden Panthers drew two walks from Jabari Henry and Joel Capote. Then Pablo Bermudez came up with a single up the middle to bring in a run. Immediately following the Bermudez single, Jeremy Patton then singled to right field to bring in another run making the score 5-2 after five innings.
Leading off the bottom of the sixth, first baseman Rudy Flores came up and drilled a home run to right center field, making it 5-3.
In the seventh, the Hilltoppers managed to load the bases against the Golden Panthers. This forced a pitching change for the Panthers. Mason McVay came on to pick up a huge strike out to shut down the Hilltoppers to keep it a 5-3 game.
In the top of the eighth, Hartle drove a home run deep over the left field wall to make it a 6-3 ballgame. It was the first run that McVay has allowed all season long.
The FIU bats came to life in the bottom of the inning. Mike Martinez and TJ Shantz led off with back-to-back singles. Then Jose Behar homered to deep left to tie game at 6.
“That was the first time all year [Behar] hasn’t hit 9th in the lineup. I’m glad he hit in that spot today.” Thomas said jokingly.
The game was extended into extra innings, where in the tenth, Garrett Wittels came on to pitch for the Golden Panthers. It was the first time all season that he had taken the mound.
“He’s a good pitcher,” Thomas said. “The only reason he isn’t throwing is because he plays shortstop.”
He worked himself into a jam though, loading the bases. Ryan Huck then singled into left and brought home a run. An error by David Vasquez then allowed another run to score to make it 8-6 in the tenth.
Down two runs heading into what would be the last inning, Pablo Bermudez knew he would have to come up big.
“I knew I was the sixth batter, so I knew that if we were going to win or tie the game, I would have to come up big,” Bermudez said. “I was mentally prepared and ready to handle that situation.”
In FIU’s last chance at the plate, the lead off man, Vasquez, drew a walk. Behar then grounded to Dykes, but he could not come up with it. Yoandy Barroso then came up clutch. Down to his last strike, he singled up the middle to make it 8-7.
Bermudez then came up with possibly his biggest hit of the year, singling to right to bring home Behar and Barroso to win the game.
The Panthers (15-11, 2-4 SBC) picked up a much-needed win as salvage a win from this series with Western Kentucky (16-7, 5-1 SBC).
“This is our biggest win of the year,” Coach Thomas said. “This was bigger than our win out at Texas A&M. This is the most proud of the team I have been all year long.”
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