Anthony Guivas/ Staff Writer
With the Sun Belt Conference Championship underway, FIU started off on the right foot, beating Troy 4-1 in the opening round on Wednesday, May 9 in FAU Stadium.
“We fought today, we executed offensively in the short game with bunts and sac flies, and we were able to push across some runs,” Head Coach Jake Schumann said.
Throughout the game, FIU (28-25) was going above and beyond to beat Troy (31-23), a team that took two of three from the Panthers in the regular season.
The complete-game win improved sophomore Mariah Dawson’s record to 20-12, and it was the 17th victory she recorded with a complete game. More notably, however, was that she reached the 200-strikeout mark, becoming the second Panthers in team history to accomplish the feat.
“Mariah was throwing like she has all year,” Schumann said. “Any time that you can get a pitcher that can take 200 batters without having to field it or throw it, you’re doing your team a favor.”
Despite stellar defense behind Dawson, Troy was able to secure an early lead in the third.
Troy’s inning started with an infield single from Kacie McAllister. After a sac bunt pushed her to second base, Trojan first baseman Hayden Gann singled home the run.
Dawson would settle down in time for the Panthers to tally up two runs in the fourth inning to give FIU a quick 2-1 advantage.
In the frame, Brie Rojas rifled a double to right center that led to Troy kicking the ball around on a Rachel Slowik fielder’s choice. Both Rojas and Slowik scored.
The offense did not end there, however, as FIU was able to put individual runs in the fifth and sixth inning using some small ball. In the fifth inning, a Jessy Alfonso walk preceded a Burri single that put runners at the corners.
Troy would then walk Ashley McClain in hopes of a double play, but Rojas lifted a sacrifice fly far enough for all the runners to advance handing FIU a 3-1 lead.
FIU would use this same strategy in the sixth as the Panthers delivered back-to-back singles from Shelby Graves and Kelsey Grabiak to add their final run of the game.
Game two is scheduled for Thursday at 4 p.m. with Jenn Gniadek taking the mound for FIU. The Panthers will face the winner between No.2 seed South Alabama and No. 7 seed ULM.
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