Coming off an impressive sweep of Georgia Tech and winning seven straight, Miami looked to make it eight in a row against FIU. Despite tying the game at four apiece in the ninth inning, FIU dramatically walked off Miami in the 10th inning.
Down 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth, freshman catcher Evan Tavaras led off the inning. On a 2-1 pitch, he hit a no-doubter over the left field wall for his third home run of the year to tie the game late.
Going into extra innings, Alex Giroux took the mound for his third inning of work, looking to send the game to the 11th. After Giroux hit FIU’s Andrew Ildefonso to start the frame, things started to unravel. A fielder’s choice and a sacrifice bunt later, Ildefonso stood on third. With one out already recorded on a pop fly, senior Brylan West stepped to the plate. West, batting .340 on the season, drove a ball down the right field, allowing the pinch runner Ryan Hunter to easily score from third base to win the game.
The Panthers found their confidence early on in the game, propelling them to this victory.
Before the late-inning drama, FIU jumped ahead in the third inning. They went on to score three runs off the bats of Javier Crespo and Andrew Ildefonso. Brylan West also had a hit, finishing the evening with three.
Reese Lumpkin, coming off back-to-back strong starts against Bethune-Cookman and FAU, looked to pick up his third straight win. Though he did have a rough third inning, his start wasn’t bad. The graduate pitcher threw 5.2 innings, giving up four runs and striking out three.
Lumpkin allowed his fourth run in the sixth inning as he left Brendan Roney on second when redshirt sophomore Jake Dorn came in relief. On the first pitch, Cole Cleveland belted a triple to right field, allowing Roney to score with ease. After just one pitch, Miami head coach J.D. Arteaga took the ball from Dorn and called on the red-hot Carson Fischer to get out of the inning.
In the top of the fifth with first basemen Renzo Gonzalez on second, freshman Michael Torres hit a single up the middle to score Gonzalez. Later on, with the bases loaded, sophomore Daniel Cuvet grounded into a fielder’s choice to plate Torres. Then senior Dorian Gonzalez Jr lined out, allowing Jake Ogden to score. Miami tied up the game at three.
Miami’s bats managed just six hits, a third of which came from redshirt junior Max Galvin, who stayed hot at the plate.
FIU continued to put in new arms throughout the game, electing to use the midweek matchup as a bullpen game. A total of six pitchers stepped on the mound for the Panthers.
With the 5-4 loss, the Hurricanes are now down 2-1 in the season series against FIU (23-18, CUSA). They look to finish the season series with a win on May 7 at Mark Light Field.
Miami (24-18, 9-9 ACC) will make its longest road trip of the season this weekend as the team heads to Boston to face Boston College. The series features a special game on Sunday at Fenway Park for ALS Awareness. Game one of the three-game set is scheduled for Friday at 4 p.m.