There was plenty of heat -- along with smoke from the Everglades fires -- at University Park Stadium over the past three days.
Some of that warmth could have been attributed to the bats of Florida International and Florida Atlantic.
The Golden Panthers and the Owls engaged in another slugfest Saturday afternoon, the regular-season finale for both teams.
Yet, it was Nick Arata's single in the top of the ninth inning that gave FAU a one-run lead. FAU held off an FIU rally in the bottom of the ninth for a 10-9 victory.
FIU (20-36, 12-18 Sun Belt) and FAU (29-24-1, 15-12-1) combined for 46 runs and 98 hits in the three-game series.
The Golden Panthers set a season high with 22 hits on Saturday, but it was another season high that hindered their chance of winning: FIU stranded 16 baserunners.
''It's hard to leave that many on base,'' FIU coach Turtle Thomas said. ``Part of this game is when you get the hits and when you don't get the hits. When you make a pitch, when you don't make a pitch and at times today, we didn't either make a pitch or didn't get the key hit when we needed to.''
FIU trailed 9-5 going into the bottom of the eighth inning. FIU rallied, even though it was eliminated from postseason play after a loss to FAU on Thursday.
''[Saturday], a lot of the seniors went out and had good days,'' said FIU senior left fielder John Petika, who was 4 for 6. ``It was a close game, and we had fun. . . . In the last game of the season, we dug deep and kept battling all the way through.''
The Golden Panthers started the eighth with four consecutive hits; Jorge Castillo and Steven Stropp led off with singles.
Petika followed with an RBI double and Tyler Townsend delivered an RBI single to make it 9-7. Kevin Mirabal's RBI single cut FAU's lead to 9-8 and Corey Lozano's RBI single tied the score.
But FIU couldn't finish off the big inning, stranding its 13th and 14th baserunners.
In the top of the ninth, Daniel Cook led off with a single to right field off FIU reliever Jorge Marban.
Cook stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch.
With the infield drawn in, Arata chopped a single over second base to score Cook and give FAU a 10-9 lead.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Golden Panthers made it interesting, and so did Owls coach Kevin Cooney.
FAU reliever Mickey Storey got the first two outs before aggravating a triceps injury.
Cooney called for Brett Cannon from the bullpen, but Cannon told Cooney he didn't ''feel it'' when he was warming up.
The plate umpire told Cooney that Cannon had to face a batter. Petika laced a single off Cannon to right field on the first pitch.
Cooney then was going to bring in second baseman William Block to pitch but decided to go with Richard Anaya, who had not pitched since April 16.
Anaya gave up a single to Townsend, but got Raimy Fuentes to fly out to center to end the game.
