3-run 9th isn’t quite enough as Owls fall to FIU 6-5 in C-USA tournament opener.

HATTIESBURG, Miss. — The first game of the Conference USA tournament on Wednesday brought a slight upset when fifth-seeded UTSA defeated fourth-seeded Middle Tennessee State.

But the second game was the real shocker when No. 8 seed Florida International trimmed top seed and 21st-ranked Rice 6-5.

“They did a real good job of hitting, and we didn’t do a very good job of pitch selection,” Rice coach Wayne Graham said.

FIU (26-29) did its damage in the fourth and fifth innings. It scored four runs in the fourth on six hits, two against starter Jordan Stephens, whom Graham said would be limited to about 60 pitches since he had pitched six days ago. After shutting down the Panthers in the first three innings, Stephens gave up a single, double and sacrifice fly in the fourth and was taken out of the game after throwing 62 pitches.

Matt Ditman came to the mound and was met by three straight hits, and by the time the fourth ended, the Owls (35-19) trailed 4-2.

In the fifth, FIU’s JC Escarra blasted a two-run homer to make it 6-2, then a torrential downpour brought the game to a halt for one hour, 54 minutes.

After the delay, pitchers dominated — until the bottom of the ninth.

That’s when Rice took advantage of the wildness of FIU reliever Danny Dopico and scored three runs and had a runner on third base before Connor Teykl grounded out to second base to end the game.

“We were one swing away from tying it,” Graham said. “We had (Nos.) 3 and 4 (in the batting order) up with the tying run on third base, and we didn’t hit.”

On Tuesday, Graham had talked about the parity in C-USA. Wednesday’s game supported that.

“Everybody in this league knows that Florida International has an awful lot of talent,” Graham said. “They really do. They can hit the ball — there’s no doubt about it. They’ve got some experienced hitters and some decent pitching. You never know — they might win this thing.”

Rice will play Middle Tennessee State (30-26) at 9 a.m. Thursday in the double-elimination tournament.