Alex Rivera/Staff Writer
With just over a month away from their season opener, the FIU Baseball released their 2020 schedule, featuring their home-away series with neighbor UM, the usual C-USA and intrastate match-ups and three series against sides they have never played.
The Panthers open February 14th at home in their three-game series against Fordham. FIU has only played four times prior and winning their last series in 2012. Afterwards, FIU will head north to Daytona to play one Tuesday night game against Bethune-Cookman, a side they swept last season.
Bethune-Cookman is the only side that FIU has an overall winning record against, winning 14 of their 21 games. The Panthers will see Bethune-Cookman twice more at home throughout the season.
When the Panthers return from Daytona, so begins their 10 game homestand, beginning with a weekend series against George Mason, a team they have not seen since 2018. Last season, George Mason went 19-35 overall, winning against Marshall, the only C-USA game they saw last year.
The rest of the home stand will feature two series against teams the Panthers have yet to play in their history: Pepperdine and Penn. The Pepperdine Waves hail from the West Coast Conference, playing in Malibu, California. The Waves went 24-25 last season, and have not seen a C-USA side since 2018. The Penn Quakers come from The Ivy League conference and had a winning season in 2019, going 23-18 overall. Both sides failed to make it to their respective conference’s postseason.
On March 13th, the Panthers will play their first game outside Florida, as well as their first C-USA series of the season, against Southern Miss, the first of their three-game series before returning to Miami.
Wednesday March 18th at 6pm, the Panthers will head to Coral Gables to play their away game against the Hurricanes, who they’ll face again on April 1st at FIU Baseball Stadium at 7pm.
The Panthers’ return to Miami will be the first of another long stay in Florida, where they’ll play a weekend series against C-USA rival Rice. Last season FIU was able to win their away series against Rice, losing their first game but sweeping the double-header the day after.
March 24-25 will see the Panthers take a day trip to Fort Myers to play against FGCU, and return to play the Eagles again at home. FIU has lost this two-game series twice in the last two years, their last win coming in 2017.
For the second time in the schedule, the Panthers will leave Florida for a weekend series against UAB before returning to Miami for a five game homestand. FIU holds the overall record between the two teams, but have lost their most recent series to UAB, two games to one.
After playing Miami for the second time, FIU will play Old Dominion. Old Dominion won the series last year, but FIU won a memorable 12-6 game as part of their double header.
After their second game against Bethune-Cookman, the Panthers will go to face another conference foe, Western Kentucky, in Bowling Green. The last time the two played was a time to forget, the Panthers losing 1-15 at home in addition to losing the series.
Before getting back to play in Miami, the Panthers will stop in Deland, Florida to play Stetson, a side they have not won against since 2017. The Panthers will play the Stetson Hatters again as their last home game on May 12th.
Heading into the homestretch of the season, FIU faces two crucial C-USA matchups between Marshall and FAU at home. Against both teams, the Panther lost the series last year. Against FAU, the Panthers have not won a game since 2018, and before then failed to win a series since 2016.
April 28-29 will see the Panthers play Western Carolina, the last side on the schedule the Panthers have never faced before. This two game mid-week series will be played in Cullowhee, North Carolina in the early evening. The Western Carolina Catamounts play in the Southern Conference, where they had an 8-16 conference record and a 21-32 record overall. The Catamounts did make it to their post season, which was an eight-team tournament in a nine-team conference.
The Panthers resume C-USA play and will stay in North Carolina to play the Charlotte 49ers. FIU is even overall with the 49ers, with nine wins a side. FIU lost the last series against Charlotte last year, but where able to win the series finale.
Five days after their Charlotte finale, the Panthers come to Miami home for their final weekend home series against Middle Tennessee. While the Panthers have a losing overall record against Middle Tennessee, FIU was able to win the last series as the away side.
Just like last year, the Panthers will play the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs as their final regular season series of the year, this time in Ruston. Like some of their last C-USA series last season, the Panthers lost the series but were able to salvage a win.
Some takeaways:
With 12 teams in C-USA Baseball, each side will play 10 other C-USA teams, meaning that there will be one C-USA team a season they will not face. This will be the second season in a row where FIU will not play against the UTSA Roadrunners. This season the Panthers will play the same teams, playing away games the teams they hosted and vice versa.
The schedule is also set up in such a way that the Panthers will play a nonconference game before a conference series eight times in their schedule. Possibly used a tune-up opportunity, these games allow the Panthers to possibly try something new before playing against a team in games that decide the post season.
Of the ten C-USA teams FIU will play, seven made the C-USA postseason tournament last season, with Charlotte and Middle Tennessee being the only sides to finish behind the Panthers.
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