Friday, March 29, 2002

Louisiana-Lafayette shuts down FIU, 4-1

ouisiana-Lafayette (19-9, 3-1) handed No. 20 FIU (25-6, 2-2) their first conference loss at home with a 4-1 win Friday night at University Park. Rajin Cajun starter Justin Gabriel pitched the complete game, his second of the year allowing only one run on eight hits. Bryan Sneed led Louisiana-Lafayette offensively as he finished 4-4 with two RBI. The one-run total was the lowest output of the season for the Golden Panthers as they also tied their season high with five errors.

In the third FIU starter Arthur Santos worked himself out of a jam as Robert Shelton reached third and Jason Wilson reached first with no outs. Santos got Charles Redmond to fly out to center and Shelton was thrown out at home as the cut-off throw from Adam Summerell to Brad Eldred was in time. Santos ended the inning as Corey Coles grounded out to first.

The Ragin Cajuns got on the board first as Sneed singled and Chase Lambin followed with a two-run home run to left field, his fifth on the year to give Louisiana-Lafayette the 2-0 lead.

In the fourth the Golden Panthers scored when Skip Adams tripled to straightaway center and came in on Dennis Diaz' infield RBI single to close the Ragin Cajuns lead to 2-1.

In the eighth the Ragin Cajuns added two runs to cushion their lead. Sneed collected his fourth hit of the game with a solo home run for the 3-1 score. Justin Bourque added a sacrifice fly scoring Lambin to give Louisiana-Lafayette the 4-1 lead after eight innings.

The two teams will resume the three-game series with a 1:00pm start tomorrow as Donnie Bair (1-1, 4.41) will go for the Ragin Cajuns and Michael Baluja (4-1, 2.91) will start for FIU.