By MALCOLM GRAY

ECU Athletic Media Relations

 

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Josh Anderson and Austin Rodriguez each had RBI singles in the eighth inning lifting FIU to a 2-0 win over No. 25 East Carolina Saturday afternoon in a Coral Gables Regional elimination game at Alex Rodriguez Park inside Mark Light Stadium.

With the win the Panthers (30-30) will play the loser of tonight’s Miami/Columbia game Sunday at 1 p.m., while the Pirates (40-22) season comes to an end.

Anderson broke a scoreless tie with a single to left field easily scoring Rios from third base for a 1-0 lead. Rios and Brian Portelli stroked back-to-back base hits with one out before Ingle relieved Love in the eighth to face Anderson. With runners on the corners and two outs, Rodriguez laced the fourth single of the frame with a shot to left plating Portelli for a 2-0 advantage.

Danny Dopico (3-4) notched the win tossing 1.2 scoreless innings of relief striking out four of the six batters he faced. Starter Christopher Mourelle scatted six hits over 7.1 scoreless frames with three strikeouts.

Reid Love (7-4) took the hard-luck loss allowing two runs (both earned) on six hits with five strikeouts and two walks in 7.1 frames. Joe Ingle appeared in his team-leading 32nd game out of the bullpen surrendering a pair of hits in two-thirds of an inning.

ECU had opportunities to scratch across runs across on the day, but left seven runners on base. In the sixth, Brooks led off with a single to left center and Allen followed with a bunt single putting runners on first and second with no outs. Charlie Yorgen’s sac bunt moved the runners into scoring position but a strikeout by Love and a fly out by Kirk Morgan ended the potential run-scoring frame.

In the ninth, Lowery laced a one-out double to left center and was left stranded following Luke Bolka’s hard hit line drive to left and Bryce Harman’s called third strike to end the season.

FIU’s three through eight hitters in the lineup tallied all eight hits and were led by Edwin Rios and Rodriguez’ two-hit performances. Rios and Portelli each scored runs with Rios’ being the game winner in the eighth frame.

Garrett Brooks tied a career-high with three hits going 3-for-3 at the plate to spearhead ECU’s seven-hit attack. Hunter Allen picked up a base knock in his eighth-straight game and closed out the season with at least one hit in 31 of his last 36 games. Luke Lowery chipped in with a 2-for-4 effort for his 19th multi-hit game of the season.