MIAMI - A final inning surge by the ULM
baseball team was thwarted by FIU, leading the Golden Panthers to a 4-3 Sun
Belt Conference win Friday night at the FIU Baseball Stadium.
The Warhawks (13-13, 1-6 SBC) loaded the
bases in the bottom of the ninth inning, with Jeremy Sy, Taylor Abdalla and
Judd Edwards all drawing walks. Justin
Stawychny flicked a two-strike pitch into right field that was chased down by
Nathan Burns to end the game.
Sy led ULM with two base hits, an RBI and two
runs scored. The senior shortstop
extended his current on-base streak to a team-best 17 consecutive games.
FIU's (13-12, 3-4 SBC) Burns led off the
bottom of the first inning drawing a walk off ULM starter Cale Wine (4-3), then
moved to second base on a single from T.J. Shantz. The Warhawks received a huge lift in the
field when Stawychny chased down a fly ball off the bat of Pablo Bermudez in
right center and then doubled off Burns at second on a nice relay from Caleb
Clowers to Sy. Wine forced Mike Martinez
to ground back to the mound to end the frame.
The Warhawks scored the game's first run in
the top of the third inning. Sy stole
second and third base with Joey Rapp at the plate before Rapp himself reached
first base on a full-count walk. Abdalla
ripped the first pitch he saw from Golden Panther starter Mason McVay into
right field, plating Sy to give ULM a 1-0 lead.
FIU answered in the bottom of the inning, as
a Martinez base hit through the left side scored Burns from second base to tie
the game at 1-1. Wine remained
undeterred, striking out Aramis Garcia to get ULM out of trouble.
The Golden Panthers took their first lead of
the game in the bottom of the fourth inning on an RBI groundout by Julius
Gaines that brought Adam Kirsch in from third base to make it a 2-1 game. Burns grounded out to Rapp at first base to
limit the FIU momentum.
ULM responded with a run in the top of the
fifth. Les Aulds took second base on a
steal before reaching third on a McVay wild pitch with no outs. Sy chopped out to Shantz at second, but Aulds
advanced home on the play to tie the game at 2-all. The Warhawks kept the inning going after Rapp
reached second on a throwing error by the third baseman Martinez and Abdalla
walked to chase McVay. Edwards struck out against reliever Eddy
Pidermann (4-0) to stall the ULM threat.
Gaines singled to score Jabari Henry from
third base to up the FIU lead to 4-2 in the bottom of the sixth inning. Reliever Kendall Thamm made a nice play to
throw out Burns on an infield grounder and struck out Shantz swinging to retire
the first two batters he faced.
Rapp laced a two-out double into left field
to score Sy from third to trim the ULM deficit to 4-3 in the top of the seventh
inning. Thamm sat the Golden Panthers
down in order in the home half of the frame, punching out Garcia looking for
the 1-2-3 inning.
Henry posted a perfect 4-for-4 night at the
plate to lead all hitters, scoring one run for FIU. Shantz added two hits, and Gaines a hit and
two RBIs. Michael Gomez threw 1.2
innings of relief to close out his fifth save of 2012.
Game two of the weekend series is scheduled
for a 5 p.m. first pitch Saturday.
