BOCA RATON, Fla. (5/1/10) - Florida Atlantic junior Mike Gipson hurled a two-hit, complete-game shutout to lead the Owls (28-15, 16-7) to an 8-0 victory over the Arkansas State Red Wolves (23-19, 12-8) Saturday afternoon at FAU Stadium.   Gipson struck out seven Arkansas State batters on the day, and FAU broke open a tight game with four runs in the fifth inning to pull away for the win.

The FAU win, combined with a 3-2 Florida Atlantic victory Friday night, gives the Owls the victory in the three-game Sun Belt Conference weekend series.

"Gipson (7-1) was very good and he just kept throwing strikes and dominating the strike zone," said ASU head coach Tommy Raffo.  "He has a breaking ball that is a swing-and-miss pitch and he throws a changeup to left-handed hitters.  Give him credit, but we did not put any solid at-bats together today, which was disappointing.  We will have to make some adjustments going into tomorrow."

The Owls took an early 1-0 advantage when first baseman Dan Scheffler drove in a run in the opening inning, and Scheffler got  four-run fifth inning going when he came up with a two-out double that drove in another run to give the Owls a 2-0 advantage.  Designated hitter Eddie Cassidy's two-run single doubled the FAU advantage to 4-0, and third baseman Sean Bukovich drew a bases-loaded walk to make it 5-0 before the Red Wolves could get out of the inning.

Florida Atlantic added three runs in the sixth to set the final at 8-0.

Junior Andres Caceres (1-3) took the loss on the mound for Arkansas State, giving up five runs on seven hits while working the first four and two-thirds innings of the game.  Caceres walked three and struck out three.

The Red Wolves and Owls will wrap up the series Sunday at 11:00 a.m. (CT).