William Duval | Staff Writer
After traveling across town, FIU baseball fell to the Miami Hurricanes in a 10-0 seven-inning rout on May 10, 2023, at Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field.
FIU was on offense when redshirt senior Mike Rosario singled in the first at-bat of the game.
However, the Panthers failed to follow this up with any offense, with a double play and a groundout halting their first inning.
The next few innings followed that same pattern as both Miami and FIU would manage to get hits but fail to capitalize.
Standing in a scoreless gridlock, one team had to break the seal and the Hurricanes did exactly that in the sixth inning.
At the bottom of the inning, sophomore Edgardo Villegas was walked and junior Yohandy Morales immediately followed that up with a single.
Looking to patch their wounds, sophomore David Eckaus came in to pitch for the Panthers.
But Miami was unfazed by the pitcher change, with junior Zach Levenson hitting a double, allowing Villegas to score.
With newfound momentum, Miami refused to stop, as they jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the sixth inning alone.
Attempting to respond, junior Ryne Guida singled after the previous hitter was walked, positioning FIU with two players on base.
Unfortunately for the Panthers, a similar situation to the first inning occurred: a double play and a groundout nullified any offensive progress they had made.
The Hurricanes’ reign of terror wasn’t over yet. If anything, the worst was yet to come for the Panthers as the seventh inning was UM’s most prolific inning of the game.
In six total at-bats, five resulted in a hit, with the outlier being the batter getting hit by a pitch. This resulted in a total of five runs, giving Miami a 10-0 lead, winning the game on the 10-run rule.
Despite a 10-0 loss, head coach Rich Witten remained optimistic about the Panthers’ outlook going forward. “We played them three times this year, the first two games were incredibly competitive.”
“We had leads in each of those games and in this game, it was a tie baseball game until the sixth inning,” said Witten. “When we execute and play well and play with energy, we can beat this team.”
Witten also expressed that the game just didn’t go the Panthers’ way. “You really can’t ask more from your guys… that’s the game of baseball sometimes.”
Shaking off a crushing loss, FIU baseball hosts the Charlotte Niners in the first game of a three-game series on Friday, May 12, 2023, at FIU Baseball Stadium in Miami, FL.
First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. and the game will be broadcasted on C-USA TV.
Follow William Duval on Twitter at @WillDuval40
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