St. Thomas University, FIU baseball seasons come to an end; FIU basketball signs 5 players

Baseball season ended last week for the St. Thomas University Bobcats and the FIU Panthers.

The Bobcats (34-21) went 1-2 in the opening round of the NAIA playoffs in Montgomery, Alabama. Both losses were by one run.

In the finale, a 7-6 loss to Freed-Hardeman (Tennessee), starter Yordy Cabrera suffered an ankle injury while making a pickoff throw to first base. His exit led to a seven-run inning, with six runs charged to the bullpen.

“It was a weird year,” STU coach Jorge Perez said. “We had some guys sick with COVID earlier in the season. We had ups and downs.”

STU’s 2021 stars included catcher Daniel Mondejar (.383, 11 homers, 43 RBI in 43 starts) and top starter Ernesto Pino (7-1, 3.78 ERA), both of whom made first-team All-Sun Conference. Mondejar and center fielder Daniel Lowry earned Gold Gloves from the league.

“Mondejar is the best NAIA catcher in the country and maybe the best overall player,” Perez said. “You can’t run on the guy. He controls the game. He should be able to play professionally.”

Perez said a lot of his top players have used up their eligibility and won’t return for 2022. That includes Monejar; Pino; Lowry; third baseman Alejandro Rivero (.376, 11 homers, team-high 53 RBI); shortstop Kobe Lopez (.333, team-high 50 runs, team-high 13 steals); and left fielder Gus Guerra (.319).

Meanwhile FIU’s baseball season ended with a 20-4 non-conference loss at Vanderbilt. The Panthers finished 20-31 overall and 11-19 in Conference USA. The Panthers failed to make the C-USA’s eight-team postseason tournament.

In five years under coach Mervyl Melendez, the Panthers are 110-123 overall and 53-65 in league action.

FIU didn’t play conference games in the 2020 season due to the pandemic. But in the other four seasons, FIU made the conference tournament twice — bowing out with a 0-2 record each time.

“We had high hopes we could make a playoff run this season,” said Melendez, who had his best Conference USA records in 2017 at 15-15 and 2018 at 15-13.

“But we had one injury after another, one bad break after another. We had 19 injuries this year. I don’t think in 25 years of coaching I’ve had 19 injuries total.”

Melendez, who believes FIU pitcher Tyler Myrick could get selected in the top 10 rounds of this year’s MLB Draft, said he’s proud of his team’s effort.

“Our players never gave up,” he said. “They played hard.

“I’m very disappointed in our record. There’s nothing to explain except there were too many obstacles. I’m proud of a lot of things we accomplished. But we have to produce wins.”

THIS AND THAT

▪ FIU men’s basketball team has signed five players for next season, and all of them have college experience: 7-1, 200-pound center Seth Pinkney; 6-8, 230-pound forward Clevon Brown; 6-8 wing Victor Hart; 6-4 guard Denver Jones; and 6-3 guard Aquan Smart.

Pinkney, a shot-blocker from Philadelphia, played the past two seasons at Quinnipiac. As a sophomore this past season, he averaged 8.0 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.5 blocks while shooting 64.9 percent on free throws and 78.8 percent on field goals. He also made his only three-point try.

Brown, a graduate transfer, averaged 3.4 points this past season as a fifth-year senior at Vanderbilt. He made 36 starts in five years at Vanderbilt. In 124 total games, he had 130 blocks, which ranks sixth in Vandy history.

Hart, who spent the past two years at Miami Dade College, averaged 12.3 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists as a sophomore this past season.

Jones, a combo guard from Alabama, is a junior-college transfer. He averaged 19.1 points and 4.1 assists at Garden City Community College this past season. He was the Freshman of the Year in the Jayhawk Conference.

Smart is a transfer from the University of Maryland, where he scored 30 points in 20 games this past season. Prior to that, he was a prep star in Chicago, averaging 20 points for Niles North, which finished 2020 with a 27-6 record. He was the eighth-ranked player in Illinois.

▪ FIU’s women’s basketball team signed a pair of transfers: 5-10 guard Ariel Colon from Elon and 6-1 forward Maria Torres from Colorado State. Colon is an Orlando native. Torres is originally from Spain.

This story was originally published May 24, 2021 at 5:38 PM.