Francisco Rivero/Staff Writer
The FIU baseball season was put on hold one day after rain postponed the season opener on Feb.15, but this time, it was worth the wait.
The Panthers hosted College World Series participants Stony Brook Uniersity for a double-header on Feb.16 and came away with two
Ty Sullivan made his FIU debut in game one of the double-header and pitched four scoreless innings of relief. (Roberto Jimenez/FIUSM)
hard-earned victories to kick off their season.
Combining for a total of 14 hits in game one, the Panthers (2-0) were lead by designated hitter Oscar Aguirre who had a team-high three hits on four at bats with one run batted in.
However, Aguirre wasn’t the only Panther ripping through the Seawolves’ pitching staff. Right fielder Nathan Burns collected two hits in five at bats while driving in four runs.
“Man that was awesome to be a part of,” said pitcher Ty Sullivan who came into relief in the first game. “It was fun just to be sitting in that dugout watching him tear those guys up on the field today.”
As excited as Sullivan was for his fellow teammates, FIU should be equally as excited for him. After starting pitcher Michael Ellis was removed after pitching four innings while giving up four runs with seven strikeouts, Stony Brook had a 4-3 lead against the Panthers.
However, during the four scoreless innings that Sullivan pitched in relief in his FIU debut, the Panthers scored an additional seven runs, with two of those runs coming off a two run double in the bottom of the seventh off the bat of center fielder Tyler Hibbert.
“When I first went out there I noticed that they were a really aggressive team but at the same time they were patient,” Sullivan said. “So when I went out there my goal was to just pound and pound the strike zone, especially with guys on base and in big situations.”
Pitcher Dillion Maya, who was also making his FIU debut, came in during the top of the ninth to seal the victory for the Panthers by recording the final three outs of the game. Game one of the season opening double header belonged to FIU.
At around 5:50 pm, starting pitcher Tyler Alexander took the mound for game two in his very first division I start.
Unlike the high scoring affair that took place in game one, game two featured a pitchers duel between Alexander and Frankie Vanderka, the starter for the visiting Seawolves.
Stony Brook’s Vanderka left the game after pitching six innings while giving up zero runs and picking up two strikeouts. Alexander also left the game during the sixth inning while recording seven strikeouts and allowing zero runs.
“I was ready for whatever they were going to throw at me,” Alexander said. “I was looking to live off my changeup and then come back in with the hard stuff and it seemed to work.”
The scoreless battle final broke during the bottom of the seventh inning when second baseman T.J. Shantz hit a sacrifice groundball to bring in catcher Aramis Garcia from third.
FIU added two more runs during the bottom of the eighth when Burns struck again and singled driving in shortstop Julius Gaines from second, collecting his fifth RBI of the night. Burns’ hit was followed up by a triple of the bat of third baseman Josh Anderson who collected his second RBI of the season.
Closer Michael Gomez came in at the top of the ninth to finish up the double-header sweep and collect his first save of the new season.
Head Coach Henry Thomas knew the difficulty in taking both games of a double-header, but he had all the faith in the world in his young club against the Seawolves.
“The first game that went 10-4 looked like we won easily but that was close for seven innings, and the second game was close throughout,” Thomas said. “So it was nip and tuck absolutely for 16 of 18 innings today. They didn’t go to the college world series for nothing last year.”
