Post by FIUVoice on Apr 7, 2007 9:32:04 GMT -5
The hottest thing at Tomlinson Stadium Friday night was Chris Allen’s arm. Florida International’s right-handed ace struck out 11 Arkansas State Indians and threw his second complete game of the season to lead the Golden Panthers to a 5-3 win with temperatures hovering in the 30s by the end of the evening.
Allen improved to 2-4 on the season and gave up nine hits and three earned runs with just one walk to give FIU (17-16 overall, 4-6 Sun Belt Conference) its second-straight conference win. He recovered from a shaky first inning and yielded just one run the rest of the way, striking out the side in fifth and ending the game with Indians (12-20, 4-9 SBC) leadoff man Tyler Doke looking.
ASU starter Nathan Gates (1-4) also went the distance, giving up 11 hits and five earned runs with a walk and four strikeouts.
Golden Panther right fielder Raimy Fuentes homered and tripled with two RBI and Tyler Townsend and James McOwen both collected two hits apiece to lead FIU. Ryan Hudgins went 3-for-4 with a home run and two RBI to pace the Indians.
McOwen started things off with a leadoff double in the first, advanced to third on Corey Lozano’s grounder and scored on Bryan Pullin’s sac fly to right.
The Indians answered in the bottom of the inning, taking a 2-1 lead. Allen hit Doke to lead off the Indians’ first and then gave up a two-run shot to Hudgins two batters later.
Fuentes knotted the game at 2-2 with his second home run of the year, a solo blast to center to lead off the Golden Panther second.
FIU took the lead for good with a three-run third. Pullin hit a leadoff single and stole second, scoring on Townsend’s single up the middle. Luis Bautista followed with a RBI double and Fuentes put the finishing touches on the inning with a triple to bring in Bautista to increase the lead to 5-2.
Allen and Gates took over the rest of the game, allowing a combined one run the rest of the way. Gates allowed only two more hits, both singles, following the decisive third.
ASU cut into the lead in the in the seventh on Doke’s RBI double, but Allen retired seven of the final nine batters he faced to end the game.
The two teams resume play and finish the series with a doubleheader on Saturday. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. ET and Game 2 will start approximately 45 minutes after the conclusion of Game 1.
Notes: Pullin moved into third place on the all-time at bats list, passing Hiram Silfa (749, 1996-99) and now has 750 for his career.
A nice pitching effort and overall team effort in very cold temps. in Arkansas last night for the Golden Panthers.
They finish off this series with a double dip today....should be intresting outcome....Finally nice to have a conference winning streak of 2 games....lets add to it today boys
