FIU’s baseball team will travel to Newark, Delaware for a three-game Conference USA series against the Delaware Blue Hens at Bob Hannah Stadium, beginning on May 1.
The series is important as FIU, with a record of 15-29 overall and 6-15 in conference play, is just two games behind the ninth and final spot for the upcoming CUSA Championships scheduled for later in May. The Panthers have gained momentum recently by winning two of their last three games, including comeback victories over Dallas Baptist and Bethune-Cookman.
Offensively, FIU has recorded 246 hits and 47 home runs this season, ranking among the top five teams in Conference USA. Mario Trivella leads the offense with a team-high eleven home runs and thirty-eight runs batted in across forty-three games. Andrew Ildefonso is approaching his hundredth career hit while leading the team with forty-nine hits this season. Cooper Rasmussen has also contributed ten home runs from the leadoff spot.
On the pitching side, Preston Prince will start Friday’s opener after throwing six and one-third innings with ten strikeouts in his previous outing. Julian Mlodzinski leads FIU with forty-eight and two-thirds innings pitched across ten starts. Out of the bullpen, Jordan Vargas recently earned both a save and a win over consecutive appearances.
This weekend marks only the sixth through eighth all-time meetings between FIU and Delaware but their first as conference opponents since Delaware joined CUSA. FIU holds a slight edge historically with three wins to Delaware’s two; last year’s meeting saw FIU take two out of three games played in Miami.
Delaware enters this weekend’s matchup at fourteen wins and thirty-one losses overall (2-19 CUSA), coming off recent victories over Liberty and Delaware State. The Blue Hens are led offensively by Evan Bouldin who is batting .349 along with nine home runs.
Game two of the series is set for Saturday evening at Bob Hannah Stadium.
