FIU baseball will face local rival Miami in Coral Gables Regional


By Joel Delgado ’12 MS ’17 

Mark your calendars: FIU baseball will play the University of Miami Hurricanes in the Coral Gables Regional Fri., May 29.

First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Alex Rodriguez Park and the game will be broadcast on ESPN3. in what will be the first meeting between the two local schools since the 2008 regular season – Head Coach Turtle Thomas’ first season at FIU. The Panthers won that last game against the Hurricanes 6-3 on Apr. 23, 2008.

The Panthers found out what their NCAA regional destination would be at a selection show watch party held at the FIU Stadium Club May 25, just hours after returning home from the Conference USA Championship in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

FIU earned an automatic bid as one of the 64 teams selected to the NCAA regionals after winning the Conference USA title less than 24 hours earlier.

After 13 consecutive days on the road, the Panthers are happy they will only need to travel about nine miles for the regionals – not that they would have minded traveling anywhere.

“If we found out we were playing in Alaska at 4 a.m., we’d be more than happy to get on a plane and go,” said Thomas, who was an assistant coach at Miami from 1988 to 1999. “Our guys are thrilled to be playing in a regional, and I hope they continue to play solid baseball like they have the last five days and make some noise.”

In addition to the No. 1 seed Hurricanes (44-14) and the No. 4 seed Panthers (29-29), East Carolina and Columbia round out the Coral Gables Regional as the No. 2 and 3 seeds, respectively.

Each of the 16 NCAA regionals is played in a double-elimination format with the top team from each group advancing to the super regionals. The only time FIU has ever advanced to a super regional was in 2001, after the Panthers upset Notre Dame in the South Bend Regional and took on the University of Southern California.

This will be the 12th Division I postseason appearance for the Panthers and their first since 2011. In 2010, the Panthers took part in the Coral Gables Regional after winning the Sun Belt Conference championship.

At the selection show watch party, the Panthers erupted in celebration upon hearing the news of their upcoming matchup with the Hurricanes, who extended their national record streak of consecutive NCAA tournament berths to 43 and are the No. 5 national seed.

“It’s been surreal, and it’s an amazing feeling,” said senior shortstop and co-captain Julius Gaines. “As a baseball player, you want to go up against the best and be able to compete. A lot of guys on our team know a lot of guys on their team, and it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

Third baseman and Conference USA tournament MVP Josh Anderson added, “It’s great for this school and for the city of Miami to have this big rivalry revived, and we’re pumped up for it. I wish we were playing today.”

For ticket information log onto www.hurricanesports.com, call 305-284-2263 or email canestix@miami.edu.