MIAMI, Fla. (05/03/09) ? Arkansas State (19-27, 9-15) fell behind
early and never recovered as the Red Wolves suffered a 10-4 defeat at the hands
of the Florida International Golden Panthers (29-18, 14-10) Sunday afternoon at
University Park in Miami. The Panthers
plated five runs in the opening inning to grab the early advantage and led 9-1
after four innings of play.
With the win, FIU captured the three-game Sun Belt Conference
series between the two teams. Arkansas
State won the Friday game 13-1 before the Panthers evened the count at 1-1 with
an 11-5 victory Saturday night.
FIU
scored its five first-inning runs on just two hits. Following a leadoff walk from shortstop
Junior Arrojo, left fielder Greg Waddell put two runs up with a home run over
the wall in left field. A hit batsman
and two walks later, center fielder Lammar Guy cleared the bases with a double
to give the Panthers a 5-0 advantage.
FIU added
a run in the second on an RBI single from designated hitter Tim Jobe before ASU
got on the board with a run in the fourth.
Third baseman Guy Brown reached on a leadoff single and eventually
scored on an FIU throwing error to cut the Panther lead to 6-1.
FIU used
a three-run home run from catcher Steven Stropp in the fourth and a run-scoring
single from Waddell in the fifth to pad its lead to 10-1, and neither team
scored until ASU scored three in the ninth.
An
opposite-field solo home run from ASU catcher Lawson Hipps, a sacrifice fly
from Brown and an RBI groundout from center fielder Todd Baumgartner scored the
Red Wolves' three runs in the final inning.
Arkansas
State freshman starter Jacob Lee (2-4) lasted just one inning on the mound in
taking the loss. Lee gave up five runs
on just two hits, but walked three and hit one batter while recording one
strikeout. FIU junior Scott Rembisz
(6-2) picked up the win for the Panthers, giving up one run on five hits, with
a pair of walks and six strikeouts in seven innings of work.
Brown,
Baumgartner and right fielder Derrick Coleman led ASU at the plate with two
hits each while Waddell was 5-for-5 with three RBI to lead FIU.
The Red
Wolves now return to Jonesboro to close out the home portion of the 2009 season
with five consecutive games at Tomlinson Stadium and Kell Field. The five-game home stand begins Wednesday,
May 6 with a 6:30 p.m. game against the Skyhawks of Tennessee-Martin. Following the UTM game, Arkansas State will
host Florida Atlantic in a three-game Sun Belt Conference series May 8-10, then
play its final home game of the year Tuesday, May 12 against Murray State.
