HOUSTON -- In an early hole against Rice on Sunday, FIU battled back to defeat the Owls 7-5 and win the three-game series at Reckling Park in Houston.
The Panthers (14-10, 3-3 Conference USA) erased a 5-0 first-inning deficit with three runs in the second and three runs in the fourth. With the win FIU took two of three games from Rice (7-19, 1-5).
Darryn Sheppard hit a grand slam off FIU starter Nick MacDonald (3-0) in the bottom of the first inning to stake Rice to a 5-0 lead. However after the first inning, MacDonald regrouped to throw four consecutive shutout innings to give his teammates a chance to come back.