Friday, February 21,, 2003

FIU rallies in the ninth, tops Bethune-Cookman 9-8
Box Score

Senior third-baseman Skip Adams started and ended a Florida International comeback in the ninth inning Friday night, hitting a home run to start a six-run rally and driving in the game winning run in a wild 9-8 Golden Panther win over Bethune-Cookman at University Park. Adams overcame a 0-for-3 start and an error to come back with the clutch hits in the ninth.

The game nearly got out of hand for FIU in the eighth, when a bench-clearing brawl broke out (ending with the ejection of a player from each side) and the Wildcats proceeded to load the bases and clear them with a Jon Lee Grand Slam.

BCC had grabbed an early lead, scoring an unearned run in the second inning. The scoring play was put in motion by a catcher interference call for Carlos Garcia. From there, Garcia stole second and was knocked home by a Lee RBI single.

In the third, they added to their lead with two more runs. The first came off a John Gragg RBI single through the right side, while the second run came unearned again because of two FIU errors.

Florida International came back with a run of its own in the bottom half of the inning, when freshman outfielder Yahmed Yema (2-for-4, RBI) hit his second home run of the season. But the Wildcats answered again, belting their own home run in the top of the sixth, to push their lead to 4-1.

It was then FIU’s turn to answer, as junior outfielder Ricardo Nanita (3-for-4, 2 RBI) singled to right field, scoring sophomore infielder Dennis Diaz from third to make the score 4-2. Diaz had singled, stolen second, and advanced to third on a groundout to set up the play.

Following Lee’s heroics in the top of the eighth inning, FIU made up a run in the bottom half. Freshman infielder Michael Lopez reached base on balls, and Nanita doubled to deep left center to send him home, cutting the lead to 8-3 and setting the table for the Golden Panther comeback.

After Adams homered to lead off the inning, an FIU batter popped up to give the Wildcats one out. Freshman infielder Luis Rivera walked and Yema followed that up with a single down the right field line to move Rivera to third. After an FIU strikeout, giving them two outs, Diaz drew a walk to load the bases. Lopez, who had entered the game due to the ejection of Bryan Pullin in the eighth, then singled through the right infield, scoring two runners and cutting the lead to 8-6. Nanita then walked, loading the bases again. Senior outfielder Adam Summerell tied the game with his first hit of the contest, a 2-RBI single down the right field line, before Adams finished the game with his RBI single down the left field line.

Freshman Frank Gonzalez was awarded the win for FIU, and the game also marked the fourth time in five starts that sophomore Derek DeCarlo (Southridge, Miami) earned a no-decision. DeCarlo lasted six and a third innings, giving up five hits, two earned runs, one walk and striking out four. The Golden Panthers next host Bethune-Cookman tomorrow afternoon at 1:00 p.m.