JONESBORO, Ark. (5/11/12) — The
Arkansas State Red Wolves used a five-run fifth inning to overcome a 2-1
deficit and went on to defeat the Florida International Golden Panthers 7-4
Friday night in the Sun Belt Conference series opener between the two teams at
Tomlinson Stadium and Kell Field.
With two outs on the board in the fifth,
third baseman Zach George delivered a two-run double to left center that gave
ASU a 3-2 advantage. Later in the
inning, designated hitter Ryan Emery belted a three-run double to center field
to increase the Red Wolves' advantage to 6-2.
Senior Jacob Lee pitched ASU to the
victory, giving up two runs on four hits in seven innings of work. Lee struck out five batters on the night
while walking two to improve to 7-1 on the season.
With the win, ASU improved to 28-19
overall and 16-7 in SBC action. The
victory, coupled with a 4-1 UALR win over Florida Atlantic Friday night, moved
the Red Wolves into a first-place tie with FAU with five league games
remaining. FIU dropped to 29-21 overall
and 13-12 in SBC play.
“We had some clutch at-bats in the
middle of the game that kind of broke it open,” said ASU head coach Tommy
Raffo. “We had a big two-out,
base-clearing double that kind of broke it a little for us from Emery that
really helped. He found some barrel and
in a nutshell, that was the big blow.
“Another quality start from Jacob Lee,”
added Raffo. “I am proud of his effort
and it was fantastic the way he finished here at home. We knew that they could score runs. They are a very good offensive club, very
good at the top of the order and make you work in the bottom.”
Arkansas State took a 1-0 lead in the
third when catcher Stuart Levy singled and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly
from Michael Faulkner.
FIU got its first hit of the night when
second baseman T.J. Shantz hit a solo home run with one out in the fifth, and
the Panthers went up 2-1 later in the frame when catcher Aramis Garcia doubled
down the left field line to drive in a run.
Arkansas State answered with five runs
in the bottom of the inning, then added another to make it 7-2 when left
fielder Logan Uxa drew a bases-loaded walk in the sixth.
FIU scored twice in the eighth to cut
the ASU lead to 7-4, but A-State junior John Koch went to the mound in the
ninth and retired the Panthers 1-2-3 to earn his school-record 10th
save of the year.
Arkansas State out-hit the Panthers 7-5
on the night, with Levy going 2-for-3 with three runs scored to lead the Red Wolves. Garcia was 1-for-2 with an RBI and a run
scored to lead FIU.
Starter Eddy Pidermann (8-2) took the
loss on the mound for Florida International, giving up six runs on six hits,
with four walks and a pair of strikeouts.
The Red Wolves and Panthers will resume
the series Saturday at 2:00 p.m. The
starting time for Saturday's game was changed from 4:00 p.m. due to the rain
forecast for the Jonesboro area tomorrow.
GAME NOTES
- ASU career strikeout leader Jacob Lee
fanned five batters on the night to bring his career total to 265.
- Junior Logan Uxa extended his on-base
streak to 18 games, which is now a team high after freshman Collin
Massanelli's 27-game streak came to an end Friday night. Junior Zach Maggio's on-base streak now
stands at 15 games.
- Sophomore Claude Johnson extended his
team-high hit streak to nine games, and his on-base streak to 16 games.
- ASU head coach Tommy Raffo is now
108-108-1 in his career, all at ASU, after Friday's win.
- Junior John Koch earned his 10 save of
the season and 14th of his career, both of which are ASU
records.
