University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
FIU
FIU Grabs Lead Early and Evens Series
4/17/2011 1:00:00 AM | Baseball
FIU took advantage of free passes in the first two innings to jump out to an early lead and starting pitcher R.J. Fondon protected the lead as the Panthers posted an 8-2 victory over Louisiana on Saturday evening at FIU Baseball Stadium in Miami.
As a result, the Panthers (21-16, 6-8 Sun Belt) evened up the Sun Belt series with the Ragin' Cajuns (20-15, 8-6 Sun Belt). The rubber match is set for 11 a.m. (CDT) on Sunday, the time moved up one hour due to impending weather.
A leadoff walk and throwing error by Jordan Bourque aided the hosts in claiming the lead in the first inning. Jeremy Patton singled through the right side to score Pablo Bermudez (leadoff walk) with the first run and Garrett Wittels (reached on error) scored from third on a double play ball off the bat of Rudy Flores.
FIU upped the lead to 3-0 in the second inning as T.J. Shantz drew a one-out walk and later scored on an Iosmel Leon single to center field.
UL would cut the deficit to 3-1 in the fourth inning, but the Panthers began their half of the inning with four consecutive singles that jumpstarted a two-spot which increased the lead to 5-1.
That would be enough run support for Fondon who turned in his longest outing of the season going eight full innings. Fondon limited the Ragin' Cajuns to two runs (one earned) and five hits in his time on the mound.
Bryam Garcia worked around a single by Chris Sinclair and walk by Bourque with two outs in the ninth inning to close out the Panthers' triumph which knocked the Cajuns out of a tie for third place in the Sun Belt standings with Florida Atlantic.
Louisiana didn't lose any ground on league-leading Troy, though, as the Trojans settled for a doubleheader split at Middle Tennessee. The Cajuns remain three games behind Troy at the league schedule reaches the midpoint.
Joe Zimmermann was pulled after FIU's fourth-inning barrage and suffered the loss for the Cajuns. Zimmermann was charged with five runs (four earned) in three innings of work.
A Matt Goulas sacrifice fly in the fourth inning and Alex Fuselier RBI double in the fifth inning produced the Cajuns' runs.
The Panthers received a three-hit effort from Yoandy Barroso and two-hit efforts from Jabari Henry and Mike Martinez.
Chase Traffica relieved Zimmermann and scattered six hits and allowed only three runs over the final five FIU at bats.
T.J. Geith (3-2, 4.42 ERA) will start for Louisiana and Daniel DeSeimone (4-2, 3.58 ERA) for FIU on Sunday as both pitchers look to lead their respective team to a series victory.
Louisiana cut into FIU's lead in the fourth inning as Jordan Poirrier singled with one out, advanced to third on a throwing error by Shantz and scored on Goulas' sacrifice fly.
The four-hit start to the bottom of the fourth produced an answering run for the Panthers and the lead grew to 5-1 when Henry crossed home plate on a double play induced by Traffica.
UL plated another run in the top of the fifth. Michael Strentz began the frame with a triple to center and trotted home two batters later when Fuselier doubled.
FIU was able to answer in their half of the fifth thanks to a heads-up play by Wittels. After opening the inning with a single to left field, Wittels tagged and advanced to second base on a deep fly out by Patton. That had him in scoring position with two outs when Martinez singled in front of Goulas in left field and the Panthers regained their four-run advantage at 6-2.
The Cajuns were shutout the final four innings and the Panthers added single runs in the seventh and eighth inning for the final margin.
BASES NOTED: The Cajuns turned two double plays, extending the string of consecutive games with a double play to four...UL has turned 10 twin-killings during that time frame, upping the season total to 33...Dating back to 2009, the Cajuns have turned 159 double plays (60-plus in '09 and '10)...In 14 Sun Belt games, Louisiana has turned 14 double plays...The Cajuns, who entered the weekend series with a Sun Belt-best .309 average in league games are hitting .156 in the series (10-of-64)...Of the Cajuns 10 hits in the series, six have gone for extra bases...Chase Traffica's relief effort marked his longest outing of the season, besting the 3 2/3 innings worked against Northwestern State on March 29 at "The Tigue"...Matt Goulas' sacrifice fly RBI in the fourth inning brought home his 99th career RBI...Greg Fontenot now has 469 career assists, moving him with 31 of joining Mark Lalande as the only two players in program history with 500 career fielding assists...FIU trimmed UL's lead in the all-time series to 23-22 and improved to 14-12 against the Cajuns at FIU Baseball Stadium...If Louisiana can win the series finale it would mark the first series victory in Miami since 2007...The Tony Robichaux Era is nearing game No. 1,000 as Saturday's game marked No. 995 (Robichaux is 597-397-1 at UL in his 17th season)...The Cajuns are now eight games into the current stretch of 10-fo-11 games on the road which began on April 5 at Rice and sport a 4-4 mark in the stretch.
-- Ragin' Cajuns --
