Saturday, March 9, 2002

FIU plays long ball,
beats Wagner, 22-3

he Golden Panthers played long ball with six home runs among their 21 hits during a 22-3 win over Wagner (0-8), Saturday afternoon at University Park. It was FIU's fourth-straight win and raised its season record to 14-4.

Alejandro Suarez was the offensive star for FIU with four hits, two of those home runs, and three RBI. Suarez also had a double and a triple on the afternoon and just missed hitting for the cycle when he grounded out hard to the shortstop in his final at bat.

Bernard Gonzelez, Solomon Frieder, Brad Eldred and Michael New also went deep for the Golden Panthers. The six home runs were one short of the school record set back in 1980.

FIU scored runs in every inning, touching Wagner starting and losing pitcher Jon Polonitza, the first of four Seahawks pitchers, for eight runs and seven hits in two-plus innings.

Michael Baluja (3-1) pitched the first five innings for FIU and picked up the win. He allowed no runs on three hits and he struck out five.

Joe Larocca was a thorn in the side all day for Wagner with three hits including a home run, as the Seahawks scattered 10 hits.

The two teams close out the three-game series Sunday at 1:00 p.m. at University Park.