Saturday, February 8, 2003

Golden Panthers survive late-inning rally
Box Score

Florida International University came back from an early deficit and then survived a comeback attempt by Central Florida to earn its sixth victory of the season, 8-7, Saturday afternoon in Orlando, Fla.

The Golden Knights went ahead early. In the first inning, outfielder David Mann hit a single to left center, advanced to second base on a sac bunt, stole third, and was knocked home by outfielder Dee Brown.

UCF added two more runs in the second. Outfielder Ryan Bear tripled to right center, and infielder P.J. Lehman singled to left center, scoring him. Mann then also tripled to right center, scoring Lehman.

FIU got on the board in the top of the third. Freshman outfielder Yahmed Yema hit a home run to right center to lead off the inning and cut the lead to 3-1. The home run was the first of Yema’s collegiate career.

The Golden Panthers followed the homer up by tying the score in the fourth inning. Junior outfielder Ricardo Nanita hit a liner right at the pitcher, causing him to duck, and the ball went to center for a single. After junior outfielder Fernando Alvarez walked, senior infielder Skip Adams bunted, reaching safely and loading the bases. Freshman infielder Luis Rivera then singled to left center, scoring Nanita and Alvarez.

FIU grabbed the lead in the seventh inning. Sophomore infielder Dennis Diaz singled, stole second and reached third on a throwing error. Senior outfielder Adam Summerell walked, and freshman infielder Bryan Pullin singled to knock Diaz home.

UCF quickly answered in the bottom half. Mann singled, and catcher Drew Butera doubled down the left field line to send him home, tying the score at 4-4.

In the eighth inning, the Golden Panthers built a four-run lead off of three UCF pitchers. Alvarez walked to lead things off, and Adams advanced him to third with a single. Senior catcher Michael New then moved Adams to second on a fielder’s choice. Rivera then hit a two-RBI single to center field. After Diaz hit a single to left field, Summerell got hit by a pitch to load the bases. With the score 6-4, Pullin got Rivera and Diaz home with a two-out single.

Down 8-4 in the ninth, the Golden Knights rallied. With the bases loaded, Rich Wallace got hit by a pitch. Taylor Cobb then singled to center to score two, cutting the lead to 8-7. But freshman righthander Edgar Ramirez (Southridge/Miami) earned his third save of the season by getting Bear to ground out.

The game featured solid pitching by both starters. After a rocky start, Golden Panther Derek DeCarlo (Southridge/Miami) settled down and ended up giving up three runs, walking one, and striking out five in five and two thirds innings. Golden Knight Von David Stertzbach hurled a career-high 10 strikeouts and gave up three runs in five innings of work.

FIU takes on UCF in game two tomorrow afternoon at 1:00 p.m.