FIU Panthers Prowl

The last signing class of 2012

Kendall Rogers of Perfect Game USA began giving thumbs up to FIU's recruiting class long ago. So, for what it's worth (stop, hey, what's that sound...), here's the 2013 baseball recruiting class as announced Thursdcay.

Juan Escarra, 6-3, 205, infielder, Mater Academy. 2012 5A-8A Herald All-Dade Honorable Mention.

Brandon Diaz, 5-11, 180, outfielder, Plantation American Heritage. 2012 ESPNHA All-State

Joe Jimenez, 6-3, 220, righthanded pitcher, Puerto Rico Baseball Academy and High School. Perfect Game ranks him as the No. 1 righty out of Puerto Rico in this year's class.

Cody Crouse, 6-6, 165, righthanded pitcher, Valrico Bloomingdale.

Gunnar McNeill, 6-3, 205, righthanded pitcher and first baseman, Winter Garden West Orange High.

Derek Deler, 5-10, 165, infielder, Maitland Orangewood Christian. 2012 WWBA All-Tournament Team Hitter.

 

Michael Perez, 6-0, 170, infielder/pitcher, Killian High.

 

Christopher Mourelle, 6-2, 175, righthanded pitcher, Southwest High. Herald Third Team 5A-8A All-Dade.

 

Nestor Cortes, 5-11, 192, lefthanded pitcher, Hialeah High. Class 5A-8A Herald First Team All-Dade, 8-0, 69 strikeouts, 1.51 ERA; 2012 WWBA World All-Tournament Team.

Alex Pinero, 6-1, 195, infielder, Coral Gables High. Class 5A-8A Herald First Team All-Dade, .432 batting average.

Robby Kalaf, 6-0, 200, righthanded pitcher, State College of Florida.

Postgame extra stuff from Louisville 79, FIU 55

Total attendance for FIU's first 7 games: 9,586. Attendance Wednesday night in Louisville: 21,411.

"I've never played in front of that many people," said junior forward Tymell Murphy, who admitted to nervousness. "I just wanted to get a rebound, get a score to take my mind off the crowd. After that, it was just playing."

Louisville coach Rick Pitino likens Richard Pitino starting his first college head coaching job at FIU to his own early days as a head coach:

"I started at Boston University and the similarities are there. We didn't draw any people. I used to sit up in what was called the Eliberg Lounge and you could see the people walking in before the game. You cold count the people as they walked in the beginning. He's going to go through the same type of stuff, except they are going to go into Conference USA and, obvisouly, they can recruit a higher caliber basketball player. But, he has four or five really good basketball players. His bigs aren't where they need to be for the future, bu that is what he's working on. He's going to have a really good backetball player named Rakeem Buckles (a Louisville transfer) next year."

FIU head coach Richard Pitino, explaining how he and his father are different on the sideline (both Pitinos say Richard is more like University of Florida coach and Pitino favorite Billy Donovan), said, "We have different personalities. He's very very intense during the game. If I got that intense, I'd forget where I was. So, I'm trying to stay calm during the course of a game where he's really trying to fire the guys up."

Richard thought this year's Louisville team, compared to last year's Final Four team, is more physical overall.