Panthers fall to Marlins in exhibition game

Alejandro Aguirre/Asst. Sports Director

After coming off a series where they won three of four games, the Panthers were able to relax and kick back for a bit as they played the Miami Marlins in a friendly exhibition game. For FIU it was a great experience as everyone got a chance to play and be part of a major league game. For the Marlins it was just like any other spring training game, lots of substitutions and lots of fans saying who’s that guy? Unfortunately for the fans and FIU players they weren’t able to play against the everyday starters for the Marlins but they still played against major league players and the organization’s top prospects as well.

Things looked a little shaky at first for the Panthers as they gave up six runs in the first three innings. Starting for the Panthers was right hander Williams Durruthy and he was having problems with his control and he wasn’t fooling anybody . At first this game seemed like it would turn into a blowout but things calmed down after the third inning.

Through nine innings, the Panthers were  unable to gain any type of offensive game. Every inning the Marlins put a new pitcher in, which is normal to see in a spring training game. Maybe that could have been a factor and also the fact that the last time these two teams played was a year ago.  For third baseman Josh Anderson, that didn’t seem to bother him. He finished the game with two out of the seven hits for FIU. One of his hits was probably the highlight of the game for both sides.  In his second at bat, Anderson hit a two-run homerun off of left hander Justin Nicolino. Nicolino is the Marlins’ top prospect that scouts say is major league ready.  Even though these teams barely play one another, Anderson had some experience hitting against Nicolino.

“I didn’t know he was going to pitch today, he started against us last year and I got a base hit off him in the first inning so when he came in the game I was familiar with him and I know he has a good changeup. The first pitch was a fastball for a ball and the next pitch he threw me another fastball and luckily I hit the homerun on his fastball because his changeup is nasty,” Anderson said.

FIU was actually part of baseball history this game; as they had the pace of play clock in between innings in the outfield. After every third out of the inning the clock was set up to two minutes and twenty five seconds. It didn’t really speed up the game, as it was still in the three hour range, but this will be something that Major League Baseball will experiment with. Another aspect of the game that was different for FIU was they hit with wood bats as opposed to the usual aluminum bats.

Overall the team was able to witness and be part of a major league game. Something that many division one programs can’t say they’ve done.

 

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