Wittels' hitting streak is over at 56

MIAMI - DiMaggio. Ventura. Wittels.

It's not the record he spent a year seeking - but inclusion on that list is one whopper of a consolation prize for Florida International's Garrett Wittels.

Wittels' pursuit of the longest hitting streak in NCAA baseball history was halted Friday night.

He went 0-for-4 against Southeastern Louisiana, leaving him two games shy of matching major league All-Star Robin Ventura's 58-game Division I record for Oklahoma State in 1987 and four short of the NCAA all-divisions mark of 60 games by Damian Costantino of Division III Salve Regina from 2001-03.

The streak ended at 56, the same number DiMaggio was stopped on when he had major league baseball's longest hit streak for the Yankees in 1941.

"Eventually, honestly, I'll break history somehow," Wittels said. "I know I'm second place in this, but I plan on playing baseball for a lot more years. And I'll break history another time."

Southeastern Louisiana won, 10-2, in the season opener for both teams.

Wittels' best chance for a hit came in the eighth, but his sharp grounder to third was snared by a diving Jonathan Pace, who scrambled to touch the base in time for the second out of the inning. It went in the books as a fielder's choice, Wittels' second of the night, and that was the junior shortstop's final chance.

Wittels made headlines on and off the field in 2010, first for the streak that helped FIU win the Sun Belt Conference title and won him the league's player of the year award, then for an alleged rape of a 17 year old while with friends in the Bahamas last December. Wittels was freed on bond, but the case is not expected to be resolved for months.