Friday March 7, 2003

Florida International defeats Sacred Heart 11-7
Box Score

Despite a sluggish start, the Florida International University baseball team came back to beat Sacred Heart 11-7 Friday afternoon at University Park. Junior outfielder Ricardo Nanita knocked out two home runs for the Golden Panthers on 3-for-5 hitting with two RBI.

The Pioneers got off to an early lead with four runs scored in the top of the first inning. Three of them were unearned, coming off of two players hit by pitches, two wild pitches and a throwing error on the pitcher. The Pioneers managed just one hit in the inning, but jumped out to a 4-0 lead.

FIU came back with three runs in the bottom of the second stanza. Freshman infielder Luis Rivera singled to left center and freshman outfielder Brian Aragon walked before both stole third and second, respectively. At that point, senior outfielder Adam Summerell (3-for-5 and two RBI) tripled, sending both runners home.

Nanita tied the score with a home run, his second of the year, to left center field in the third inning. Sacred Heart then retook the lead, scoring their run on a Jason Maiella sacrifice fly in the fourth inning.

The Golden Panthers came back in the bottom half of the inning to hit three home runs, two of them in succession, to regain the lead. Freshman infielder Michael Lopez (2-for-4, two RBI) started the inning off with a home run to left field before Nanita hit his second homer of the game to give FIU the lead. The very next batter, senior infielder Skip Adams (2-for-4, two RBI), hit his own home run, making the score 7-5.

Sacred Heart cut the score to 7-6 on a Maiella home run in the sixth inning, but FIU got the run back in the bottom half when Adams scored senior outfielder Solomon Frieder on a groundout.

The eighth inning was just as productive for the Golden Panthers, as they scored three more runs to go up 11-6. Rivera (2-for-4, RBI) scored Frieder with a single down the right field line, and then sophomore infielder Dennis Diaz singled up the middle, knocking home Rivera and Adams, who had walked earlier in the inning.

Sacred Heart scored its final run in the ninth inning as Jamie Schilkowski recorded a sacrifice fly to score David Kaloyanides. From there, FIU freshman pitcher Edgar Ramirez (Miami, Southridge) closed out the game.

Freshman pitcher Ammer Cabrera was solid in relief for the Golden Panthers, pitching seven and a third innings while striking out 11 batters and allowing just four hits and two runs. FIU takes on Pittsburgh this evening at 7:00 p.m.