MIAMI (May 19, 2022) – To open the final series of the 2022 campaign, the FIU baseball team fell 8-2 to the Rice Owls.
 
Panther shortstop Steven Ondina tallied his eighth multi-hit game of the season with a pair of base hits and scored once. Five other Panthers collected a base knock on Thursday night including a ninth inning home run off the bat of Bryan Loriga.
 
FIU starter Patrick Pridgen was saddled with the loss after allowing five runs in 3.1 innings. Pridgen punched out five to push his season strikeout total to 112, which ties for the 11th most strikeouts in a season in program history.
 
The bullpen trio of Richie Pena, Zac Lampton and Jack Clemente combined for 4.2 innings of shutout ball with five combined strikeouts.
 
FIU jumped out to an early 1-0 lead when Alec Sanchez singled home Ondina in the top of the first for his team-leading 36 RBI on the year.
 
Rice tied the game right back in the top of the second with a single run before plating four in the fourth and three more in the ninth to manufacture an 8-1 advantage.
 
The final Panther run of the evening came with two outs in the bottom of the ninth when Loriga turned on a 2-0 pitch and sent it deep over the wall in left field to make it an 8-2 final.
 
UP NEXT
FIU and Rice will play game two of the weekend set at FIU Baseball Stadium on Friday. First pitch is slated for 6 p.m. ET.
   
SOCIAL MEDIA
Get all the latest information on the team by following @FIUBaseball on Facebook and @FIUBaseball on Twitter and Instagram. General athletic news can also be found at @FIUSports on Facebook and @FIUAthletics on Twitter and Instagram.