DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Some late heroics made for an exciting end to the midweek contest, but the Wildcats ultimately fell short to FIU, 7-6, Wednesday night at "The Jack."
FIU (17-27, 4-17 CUSA) scored two in the top of the second to open the scoring on the evening on a solo homer and wild pitch.Â
The Panthers put runners on in nearly every inning, but could not push anything across until the seventh, when they scored five on a bases loaded walk, RBI single, and RBI double to make it 7-0.Â
The Wildcats (21-22, 12-7 SWAC) finally cracked the scoreboard in the bottom of the inning as
Derek Cintron's sacrifice fly scored
Jeremy Garcia. A batter later,
Brian Perez singled to score
Malik Stephens and cut the deficit to 7-2.
B-CU mounted a furious comeback in the bottom of the ninth:
Leandro Perez opened the inning with a hit-by-pitch, and Garcia and Stephens quickly walked to load the bases with no one out. Cintron added his second RBI of the night with an RBI single that scored Perez.
Manny Souffrain, pinch hitting for
Brian Perez, was also hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to score Garcia.
Following a FIU pitching change,
Garrett Chun walked to score Stephens and cut the deficit to just two runs.Â
Jason Hodges floated a shallow fly ball into right field that allowed Cintron to score on the sacrifice fly to make it 7-6 with one away.
A
Hylan Hall strikeout and
Robert Moya intentional walk loaded the bases again with two out, but
Irvin Escobar's liner to left center hung up a bit too long to retire the Wildcats for the 7-6 final.
Hylan Hall made the start and took the tough-luck loss. he allowed two earned runs in two innings on three hits.
Alec Mendez and
Derrius York each worked a pair of scoreless innings.
Gabriel Perez surrendered five runs in the seventh on four hits with two walks and two strikeouts.
Dale Michaud and
Yoansell Diaz combined in the final two scoreless frames.
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- Robert Moya extended his on-base streak to 25 games with a fielder's choice and intentional walk.
- Seven different Wildcats recorded hits in the contest - no batter recorded multiple hits.Â
- B-CU left eight men on base - FIU stranded 11.
The Wildcats host Alabama A&M this weekend for three games at Jackie Robinson Ballpark. The two teams were rained out twice earlier this month in Huntsville - as a result, the two teams may attempt to make up one or both of those rainouts this weekend. Stay tuned to BCUAthletics.com and @BCUDiamondcats on Twitter for up-to-date information as the weekend schedule is finalized.Â
First pitch of game one is set for Friday, May 5 at 7 p.m.Â
Follow Bethune-Cookman Baseball on Twitter (@BCUDiamondCats) and Instagram (@BCUBaseball) for all of the latest news and updates. For all Bethune-Cookman Athletics news, follow us on Twitter (@BCUathletics), Instagram (@BCUathletics) and www.bcuathletics.com.
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--#HailWildcats--
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