SAN ANTONIO — UTSA will travel to the Sunshine State this weekend for a three-game series at FIU that is scheduled to begin on Thursday.
Due to the Easter holiday, the Conference USA series will be played from Thursday-Saturday instead of its usual Friday-Sunday dates.
UTSA (16-15, 6-6 C-USA) seeks its third league series win of the season after taking last weekend's WKU series at Roadrunner Field. The Roadrunners remain steady in a four-way tie for fourth in the league standings with Charlotte, FIU and Marshall.
UTSA is batting at a .299 clip, as Bryan Arias tops the season stat sheet with his .365 average. The San Antonio product also leads the squad in hits (46), runs scored (38), doubles (12), home runs (9), RBIs (29), total bases (87), slugging percentage (.690) and stolen bases (5).
Meanwhile, on the mound, left-hander Nolan Trabanino (3.65 ERA) will pitch in the series opener, followed by righty Tyler Giovanoni (3.93 ERA) on Friday and Saturday's starter is yet to be determined.
FIU (19-14, 6-6 C-USA) welcomes UTSA off Tuesday's 3-1 victory against in-state foe Bethune-Cookman. Starting pitcher Robert Garcia recorded a career-high 14 strikeouts in a complete game, walked none and allowed just four hits.
At home, the Panthers boast a 12-10 record and they own a 6-6 C-USA mark, which ties them for fourth in the league standings with Charlotte, Marshall and UTSA.
As a team, FIU is hitting at a .278 clip and is led by Kenny Meimerstorf's .357 batting average. Meimerstorf has played in all 33 games this season and leads the team in hits (45), doubles (9), total bases (63) and sacrifice flies (4). However, Irving Lopez adds a .336 average at the plate on the strength of 43 hits and he leads the team in runs scored (24), triples (3), RBIs (22) and walks (15).
On the mound, Nick MacDonald leads the Panthers pitching staff with a 2.45 ERA in eight appearances (six starts) and he is 5-0 on the season. MacDonald, who has been a part of two combined shutouts, has logged 36.2 innings and ranks second on the staff with 37 strikeouts.
