FIU Baseball Practices For Scouts On A Rainy Day

 Richard Gibson/Staff Writer

FIU baseball put their talents on display for professional scouts at Infinity Insurance Park on Wednesday, Oct. 9th. 

 In a three hour event that was delayed by rain, the Panthers finally were able to work out for the scouts in attendance. 

 Starting with warmups around the football field, the first practice for the outfielders began. The outfielders spent time catching pop flies by head coach Mervyl Melendez and then launched them back to first and third base.

 After that, the overall strength of FIU’s hitters were on display. Each hitter was given five chances to swing away at fastballs thrown by Melendez, and a few were blasted out of the park. 

 The last part of the showcase was all about the pitching of the Panthers. Every pitcher that was part of the Panthers lineup shot their best fastballs, sliders, curveballs, and other changeups.

 Over 50 professional scouts were in attendance and even during the rain, and it was all recorded by most scouts in attendance. 

 The upcoming season for the baseball team has high expectations. Coming off a season with mixed results, the team’s looking to improve. The 23-32 record consisted of tough series losses to Stony Brook, Marshall, Florida Gulf Coast, and Florida Atlantic but also some series wins, against Jacksonville State, Seton Hall, Rice, and Southern Mississippi.

 The roster of the men’s baseball team is well known for its youth, including 14 freshmen and six sophomores. This amount of youth is a big benefit for the overall state of the team, according to Derek Cartaya, a senior from Pembroke Pines.

 “We’ve had upper-classmen that have been here for four years that work exceptionally hard, and they’re (younger players) just trying to follow in our footsteps and our work ethic,” said Cartaya. 

 Be on the lookout for Cartaya this upcoming season. Last season, Cartaya nailed 60 hits, including 11 doubles, and cashed in 35 runs as well as 28 RBIs. In his career here at FIU, Cartaya has scored 88 runs, 46 RBIs, and 128 total hits.

 While the schedule of the upcoming season hasn’t been released, coach Melendezl is already requesting the support of fans to come out and support the team. He says the overall energy of the team will be way better than last year, and he’s looking to an overall outstanding year.

  “The expectations have increased as the players have gotten older. As we get closer to where we think we should be as a baseball program, I think the expectations rise. I think the energy level, because of that, gets intensified, and they’ve done a really good job. said Melendez

 Once the baseball season gets started in February, the team’s hoping to return to the postseason for the first time since 2015. In the C-USA Baseball Championship that year, FIU knocked out teams like Rice, UTSA, Middle Tennessee, and UAB. They were then invited to the Coral Gables Regional, beating East Carolina, but losing to UM and Columbia.