University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
FIU
Leadoff Hitting Pushes FIU Past Louisiana
4/17/2011 7:00:00 PM | Baseball
Louisiana was able to work around FIU's leadoff runner reaching base in the first four innings to stay ahead, but in the fifth inning it all came undone as the Panthers broke free with the first of eight unanswered runs that led to an 11-5 win over the Cajuns in the series finale on Sunday at FIU Baseball Stadium.
T.J. Geith, who stranded nine Panthers over the first four innings and threw 92 pitches, came back out for a fifth inning of work attempting to protect a 5-4 lead. He surrendered a leadoff single to T.J. Shantz marking the fifth consecutive leadoff batter to reach base.
Geith hit the next batter (Jose Behar) and was relieved by Joey Satriano. A wild pitch was followed by a walk by Satriano and the bases were loaded. The Panthers (22-16, 7-8 Sun Belt) drew even on a fielder's choice grounder off the bat of Jeremy Patton.
Satriano's second wild pitch of the inning allowed FIU to pull ahead as Behar, who was hit by a pitch earlier, trotted home for a 6-5 lead.
That ended the relief stint by Satriano and two batters later a two-out single to left field off of Caleb Kellogg by Mike Martinez scored Patton with the third run of the inning and it was 7-5.
From there FIU pitching held the Cajuns (20-16, 8-7) to just two hits over the final four innings and tacked on a single run in the sixth inning before putting the game out of reach with the third, three-run inning of the contest coming in the eighth inning.
FIU claimed the series victory and as a result Louisiana dropped a SBC series for the second straight weekend and third straight season in Miami. The Cajuns last series win in Miami came in 2007.
The Cajuns' current stretch of 10-of-11 on the road comes to an end with a pair of midweek games next week. First up is a trip to McNeese State on Tuesday for a 6:30 p.m. contest at Cowboy Diamond. The treacherous road swing ends on Wednesday at Lee-Hines Field in Baton Rouge against Southern University.
Every FIU starter contributed to the squad's 16-hit attack off Cajuns pitching. Geith gave up seven hits in four innings and Kellogg surrendered seven hits in his 3 1/3 innings of relief.
Lance Marvel posted a three-hit game for the Cajuns and two-hit performances were delivered by Alex Fuselier, Jordan Poirrier and Mike Petello. UL finished with 14 base hits and for only the second time this season lost a game in which double figure hits were posted.
Geith was handed his third loss of the season, charged with six (five earned) of the 11 runs allowed. Louisiana pitching allowed double digits for only the second time in the past 68 games.
Kyle Fitzpatrick relieved FIU starting pitcher Daniel DeSimone and tossed three innings from the third through fifth inning left the diamond with the victory in hand, his fifth of 2011.
For the third consecutive day the Panthers scored first getting the initial run on a leadoff home run by Pablo Bermudez. FIU extended the lead on a ground out RBI by Martinez and two-out RBI single by Jabari Henry.
The Cajuns, trailing early for the third straight game, came back to reclaim the lead in the top of the second inning. Chris Sinclair started a four-run scoring spree with a leadoff home run over the right field fence.
After Daniel Nichols popped up to shortstop, Chase Compton doubled down the right field line and Jordan Bourque singled to center field giving UL runners on the corners. Fuselier then singled home Compton cutting the deficit to 3-2.
Fuselier and Bourque executed a double steal and Bourque scored from third on a Greg Fontenot grounder to first base tying the score at 3-all. Fuselier, who moved up to third on Fontenot's grounder, scampered home when Behar's attempt to pick him off sailed into left field and UL led 4-3.
Geith stranded five FIU baserunners spanning the second and third inning to hold the lead for the Cajuns.
Louisiana added to the lead in the fourth inning stringing together three consecutive two-out hits. Poirrier singled to right field, moved up when Petello registered an infield single to third base and scored on a Marvel single upping the lead to 5-3.
But the Panthers continued to get the leadoff batter on base and in the fourth inning cashed in moving within one run of the Cajuns. Bermudez reached on a Fontenot fielding error, would later steal third base and score on an infield single by Garrett Wittels.
Fitzpatrick retired the Cajuns in order in the fifth inning and that foreshadowed an ominous ending to the game for Louisiana.
BASES NOTED: The Cajuns turned a double play for the fifth consecutive game and now have 11 in that time frame...UL fell to 4-5 on the current stretch of 10-of-11 on the road...Alex Fuselier collected his 10th multiple-hit game of the season and Mike Petello moved into a tie with Greg Fontenot for the team lead with 12...Sunday has not been kind to the Cajuns in Miami the past two years...A year after giving up 14 unanswered in a 15-6 loss to the Panthers, the Cajuns give up eight unanswered in Sunday's 11-5 defeat...Jordan Poirrier stretched his current hitting streak to five games which ties his season-high...FIU pulled into a 23-23 tie in the all-time series with the Cajuns...The Panthers now lead the series 15-12 in games played at FIU Baseball Stadium...UL has ventured to Miami five times in the past six seasons and will finally get FIU to "The Tigue" in 2012.
-- Ragin' Cajuns --
