JONESBORO, AR ? The Arkansas State baseball team rallied for four unanswered runs as the Indians picked up their first Sun Belt victory of the season as ASU downed Florida International, 7-4 on Sunday afternoon at Tomlinson Stadium.

            “Today was certainly an important win for us after dropping the first two games of this series,” head coach Keith Kessinger said. “I am very proud of our pitchers as they competed with everything they had today especially Fowler and Egart late in the game to secure the victory.”

            Senior Taylor Fowler (2-4) picked up the victory in relief as he tossed 2.2 solid innings out of the bullpen as he limited FIU to just one unearned run. Junior closer Tim Egart picked up his third save of the year as he worked the final 1.1 innings of the game without allowing a run.

            Senior shortstop Brett Kinning was the catalyst offensively as he notched his first career multiple home run game. He tallied a pair of solo home runs in consecutive at-bats late in the game to secure the ASU victory. Sophomore Guy Brown also drove in two runs on a pair of hits while senior Kevin Kull Jr. picked up a pair of RBIs in the victory.

            “Brett continues to lead our team offensively and has picked up his play on the defensive end. He made a couple of difficult plays late in the game that helped keep FIU off of the board,” Kessinger added. “Guy also had a big hit in the victory came through with a key double in the ninth inning to give us some another insurance run.”

            The Indians (13-12, 1-2 Sun Belt) opened the scoring first as they posted a three-run second inning against FIU starter Chris Siebenaler. Junior designated hitter Josh Yates started things off with a four-pitch walk and came home to score as Kull crushed a two-run home run over the left field wall to give ASU the lead.

            The Tribe added its third run of the inning as Josh Allison drew a walked and moved to second on Brown's single. After a sacrifice bunt moved Allison to third, he came home to score on a ground ball by Drew Rogers that put the Tribe up, 3-0.

             The Golden Panthers (20-10, 2-1 Sun Belt) threatened in the fourth inning against ASU starter Doug Gunderson as they put two aboard with just one out. Gunderson gave way to freshman reliever Nicholas Lambert who quickly got out of the inning as he retired two straight batters.

            FIU was able to make its way onto the scoring card in the top of the fifth inning against Lambert as Alex Alfonso led off with a single and moved to second on Michael Lopez's single that put two aboard. Nick Cadena followed with a two-out double to center field that plated a pair of runs to narrow the ASU to one run.

            The Golden Panthers took their first lead of the game just an inning later as Cody Jacobs drew a walk to chase Lambert from the game. Fowler came on and allowed FIU to tie the game on a run scoring single by James McOwen. After an error by Fowler moved McOwen to third base, the Golden Panthers took their only lead of the day as Alfonso singled to center field to put FIU up, 4-3.

            The Indians answered right back in the bottom of the sixth inning as Kinning lifted a 2-1 pitch over the right center field wall for a lead-off solo home run to knot the game up at four apiece. The Tribe continued to rip the ball as Yates barely missed a home run as he doubled off of the center field wall. Yates moved into scoring position on a ground ball and came home to score as Brown reached base on a FIU error to give the Tribe a 5-4 lead.

            Fowler came back out and quickly set the Golden Panthers down in the seventh inning. He and Egart combined to keep FIU off of the board in the eighth inning to preserve the ASU lead.

            The Indians tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to give the Tribe some breathing room. Kinning had a repeat performance as he led off the inning with his second straight home run by crushing a 3-1 pitch over the left field wall to put ASU up two. Kull kept the inning going as he reached on a walk and moved into scoring position on a stolen base. Brown followed with a clutch run scoring double down the left field line to plate Kull and give ASU a 7-4 lead heading into the ninth inning.

            Kinning's two home runs in consecutive at-bats marks the first time an Indian this season has accomplished that feat. He becomes the first Indian to hit home runs in two straight at-bats since Brad Burkhead did in the SBC Tournament last May.

            Gunderson worked 3.1 innings in his first start as an Indian as he allowed just two hits but walked three batters. Lambert was charged with three runs on three hits in just 1.2 innings of work.

            Siebenaler (1-4) picked up the loss as he was charged with five runs on five hits in 6.2 innings of work while reliever Eric Horstman allowed two runs in 1.1 innings of relief.

            The Indians will be back in action next weekend as they hit the road for a three-game series against Sun Belt rival Louisiana-Lafayette.

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