JONESBORO, AR ? The Arkansas State baseball team dropped its Sun Belt Conference opener on Friday night as the Indians fell to Florida International, 8-4 at Tomlinson Stadium. The loss drops the Indians to 12-11 on the season and 0-1 in conference play while FIU improves to 19-9 and 1-0 in SBC action.
“Give FIU credit, they went out and won the game. We didn't play poorly tonight but they played just a little better than us as they made some key plays late in the game,” head coach Keith Kessinger said.
The game started out as a pitching duel between starter Joel Boeschen and Walker Whitley as both pitchers battled back and forth during the first half of the game. The two pitchers only allowed an unearned run each until the fifth inning as they combined for 18 strikeouts total in the game.
Whitley (6-2) picked up the victory as he tossed a complete game as he allowed four runs on nine hits while striking out 11 batters. Boeschen (2-3) was charged with the loss despite a solid effort as he worked 7.2 innings of six-hit baseball and was charge with five runs, four earned, while striking out eight batters.
The Tribe struck first against Whitley as it plated a run in the bottom of the first inning. Redshirt freshman Jeremy Lyons started thing off with a single and advanced to second on an FIU error. After a sacrifice bunt moved Lyons to third base, junior designated hitter Josh Yates picked up his team-leading 34th RBI of the season as he singled off of the leg of Whitley to give ASU a 1-0 lead.
The Golden Panthers answered right back with a run in the top of the second inning as Nick Cadena drew a walk and advanced to second on wild pitch. He came home to score as Chris Dunn reached on a three-base error by Lyons in right field to tie the game at one apiece.
The two pitchers started to cruise along as Boeschen retired 13 of 14 batters during one stretch while Whitley turned away eight of nine during another stretch. The Tribe finally broke through against Whitley in the bottom of the fifth inning as the Indians scored three runs to take a 4-1 lead.
Sophomore catcher Drew Rogers started things off as he was hit by a pitch and junior third baseman Tyler Doke kept the inning alive with a two-out single to right field. Senior shortstop Brett Kinning came through with the big blow as he crushed a 1-1 pitch over the left field wall for a three-run home run, his second home run in as many games.
Boeschen continued to roll until the Golden Panthers finally got to him in the top of the seventh inning. James McOwen and Corey Dunn got things started with a pair of singles to put two aboard for designated hitter Cody Jacobs. Jacobs took a 2-2 pitch and lifted it over the left field wall just over the outstretched arms of ASU left fielder Kevin Kull Jr. to tie the game at four apiece. The Golden Panthers took their first lead of the game two batters later as Bryan Pullin rip a solo home run to left field to extend his hitting streak to 33 straight games dating back to last season.
The Tribe had its comeback attempt thwarted in the bottom of the seventh inning as FIU turned a double play to subdue the ASU threat. The Golden Panthers tacked on three insurance runs in the top of the ninth inning against Tribe reliever Nicholas Lambert to seal the FIU victory.
Lambert was charged with three runs on one hit and a one as he worked two thirds of an inning. Senior left-hander Taylor Fowler worked the final two thirds of an inning as he allowed one hit and one walk while striking out two batters.
Doke extended his hitting streak to eight straight games with his single while Yates and Josh Allison each tallied a multiple hit game in the loss.
The two teams will continue their three-game series on Saturday afternoon as they meet at 2 p.m. at Tomlinson Stadium. The teams will conclude the Sun Belt series on Sunday afternoon with game time now set for 12:30 p.m.
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