FIU baseball falls to Jacksonville 10-5

Host Jacksonville belted four home runs off FIU pitching to help the Dolphins to a 10-5 victory on Wednesday night.

With the victory, Jacksonville (11-5) split the two-game series with FIU (10-11).

Dolphins pinch-hitter Franco Guardascione belted a three-run home run off FIU left-hander Frank Chacon with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning to erase a 5-4 FIU lead and give JU an advantage it would not relinquish.

Willy Fabra (0-2) gave up consecutive singles to Parker Perez and Austin Hays to start the seventh.

FIU came back from a 4-1 deficit in the top of the fourth inning. Ricardo Pozo and Kolby Follis singled before Jack Schaaf hit a three-run home run over the right-field wall to tie the score.

The Panthers took the lead, 5-4, in the top of the fifth when Zach Files led off the frame with a home run to right-center field.

The Dolphins added their third and fourth home runs of the night in the bottom of the eighth when Perez and Hays hit back-to-back round trippers. Perez hit a two-run shot. Hays hit his second solo home run of the game.

Jacksonville right-hander Mike Schappell (1-1) shut down the Panthers with four innings of scoreless relief to finish the game.

Follis, Files, Kenny Meimerstorf and Pozo each had two hits for FIU.

This story was originally published March 16, 2016 at 11:36 PM with the headline "FIU baseball falls to Jacksonville 10-5."