HIALEAH Fla. - CIU baseball headed down to the Sunshine State for a four-game series against Florida National University to kick off the 2025 season. In the first matchups in program history, the Rams overpowered the Conquistadors for a Friday sweep, winning 10-3 and 31-5. CIU starts the season 2-0 and has multiple new program records from today's performance.
Game One: CIU 10 FNU 3: CIU quickly jumped on the board with two unearned runs in the top of the first, and FNU cut their lead in half with a run in the bottom of the third. Daniel Sidoti responded with a homer in the fourth to extend their lead to 3-1. The Conquistadors homered in the bottom of the inning, but a double from Graham Peeler and a sac fly from Collin Greer added two more for the Rams in the fifth (5-2). Maddux Smith singled in the sixth to push across another run, and Peeler knocked one out of the park to extend CIU's lead to 8-2. FNU tacked on another in the bottom of the inning, but singles from Greer and Maurice Gomez locked in the Rams' 10-3 win.
Box Score Highlights:
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Peeler and Gomez led the team with two hits, and Peeler led with three RBI.
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Sidoti and Greer chipped in two RBI a piece, while Gomez recorded two stolen bases.
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Davin Miller-Madden picked up the win, allowing just one hit in four innings of work. Collin Otte closed out the game with three strikeouts in three innings.
Game Two: CIU 31 FNU 5: The Rams' bats stayed hot heading into game two as they took a 7-0 lead in the first inning, highlighted by a Brandon Arnold three-run homer. Tanner Henderson, Bradley Garland, and Gomez pushed four runs across to extend their lead to 11-0. The biggest inning of the day came in the top of the third, where CIU scored 10 runs, including two grand slams from Gomez and Mason Turner. The Rams continued to put the ball in play and added seven more runs in the fourth (28-0). Two errors from CIU's defense allowed two runs to come across for the Conquistadors in the bottom of the frame. A single from Tanner Henderson pushed across another in the fifth, which FNU matched, and then scored two in the sixth (29-5). A Darius Hatchette-Dunn homer and an RBI single from Peeler added two more for the Rams to seal their 31-5 dub.
Box Score Highlights:
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The Rams recorded 26 hits in game two, the most in a single game in program history.
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This is the fourth game in program history where four players have hit a home run (Arnold, Gomez, Turner, and Hatchette-Dunn).
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Thirty-one runs is the second-most scored in a single game, the most being 32 runs from a contest in 2021.
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Gomez now leads the program for hits and RBI in a game with six hits and eight RBI.
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Turner was also impressive at the plate in game two, with four hits and six RBI.
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Michael Meilinger recorded the win with one earned run and four strikeouts in five innings. Manuel Geisel closed the game with five strikeouts in two innings.
What Coach Jonathan Johnson is saying, "What a start to our season offensively.! We had a few standouts, but what excited me the most was how many guys contributed to the offensive onslaught. FNU is a very scrappy team with some great hitters. We are expecting much closer games tomorrow."
Up Next: The squad has another doubleheader tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 1 starting at 12 p.m. ET, against Florida National to close out the series.
