MIAMI, Fla. – The Diamond 'Dogs (16-16, 5-6 CUSA) evened the series against FIU (10-21, 2-9 CUSA) Friday night at FIU Baseball Stadium in Miami, downing the Panthers, 6-2.
 
The contest was highlighted by freshman Thomas Allen's gem of a performance out of the bullpen, tossing a final 4 2/3 frames allowing no runs, two walks and punching out a career-high seven FIU hitters.
 
The Bulldogs were on the attack from the start of the game, beginning with Sebastian Mexico leading off with a sharp line drive to left field for a base hit. A fielder's choice allowed Colby Lunsford to reach safely, as a throw to get Mexico out at second was errant and the LA Tech designated hitter put himself 90 feet from home on the play.
 
Trey Hawsey drew a 3-2 count before taking a pitch right back up the middle, scoring Mexico and giving the 'Dogs an early 1-0 lead.
 
Tech continued on with producing competitive at-bats, loading the bases with one out in the second on back-to-back singles from Casey McCoy and Brecken Menuet and a walk drawn by Mexico. Lunsford put a ball deep enough in the outfield to score McCoy on a sacrifice fly before Hawsey drove in his second and third runs of the game with a double to the right field corner.
 
Hudson Rowan gave the Bulldogs an efficient start, throwing four scoreless frames to start his outing and fanning eight batters to set a new career high as a Bulldog.
 
The 'Dogs pushed out to a 5-0 lead in the fifth with a two-out RBI base knock by Cade Patterson for his team-leading 31st RBI. Rowan began the home half of the fifth allowing a bunt single and getting a lineout to Colton Coates at second before he began having control issues.
 
Three-straight walks were issued before Allen was brought out of the bullpen, striking out a pair of batters to end the frame after a second run for FIU was scored on a wild pitch. The freshman continued to dominate on the mound, striking out a pair in a clean sixth and leaving a pair of runners stranded in the seventh.
 
Allen fanned his sixth batter of the night for the final out in the eighth before getting his seventh punch out for the second out of the ninth, en route to earning his third win of the season.
 
Hawsey posted the only multi-hit and multi-RBI day for the 'Dogs with three hits and three RBI, both of which were game highs. Hawsey posted his sixth three-hit performance of the season and seventh of his career.
 
It was also his 23rd career multi-hit game, which is the third-most among current Bulldog hitters, and his 15th multi-RBI game is tied for the most on the team with Mexico.
 
The rubber match is set for Thursday, April 4 at FIU Baseball Stadium. First pitch is set for 2 p.m. CT/3 p.m. ET.
 
Quotables
 
Head Coach Lane Burroughs:
"It felt good to have the handshake line again. Doug Strickel had a great message to the team—just keep getting up. It's tough and it sucks, nobody likes losing, but you have to keep getting up and keep moving forward. They're learning something out of this—we all are, learning something about ourselves. I couldn't be prouder of these guys. They played their tail off tonight. Shoutout to Dr. Henderson, our biggest fan, who's been with us in the stands this weekend. I thought Hudson was outstanding on the mound, just when we needed a great start. He had all of his pitches working. When our guys play with intensity, but they play loose and with joy, then we can be hard to beat. I thought Thomas Allen coming in—it lined up just like we wanted it to. Have one pitcher give us five, the other give us four, and they couldn't have been much better tonight and we needed it in the worst way."
 
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