Friday, April 25, 2003

Comeback bid falls short, FIU loses 6-5
Box Score

In the opening match of a three-game Sun Belt Conference series, the Florida International baseball team couldn’t overcome a 6-3 deficit in the ninth inning, and fell 6-5 to New Mexico State Friday evening at University Park.

The ninth-inning rally began when Rivera singled up the middle. After Pullin reached on a throwing error, Lopez walked to load the bases. Nanita then recorded his third RBI of the night with a single to right field which scored Rivera. Freshman outfielder Yahmed Yema then walked with the bases loaded to make the score 6-5. The Aggies got the final batter to groundout though, preserving the 6-5 win.

The game started off as a bit of a pitcher’s duel, as Golden Panther Josh Banks dominated the top offensive team in the Sun Belt Conference. The junior right-hander struck out his 100th batter of the season in the third inning, getting Dustin Mote looking on four pitches, before finishing with nine strikeouts in seven and a third innings.

The Golden Panthers took a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Freshman infielder Luis Rivera led the inning off with a double down the left field line. Freshman infielder Bryan Pullin advanced him to third with a groundout to first, and then freshman infielder Mike Lopez hit a sacrifice fly to give the Golden Panthers a quick 1-0 lead.

Junior outfielder Ricardo Nanita doubled the lead with his second home run in as many games, launching his eighth of the year to deep left center in the fourth inning.

The Aggies got on the board in the fifth inning, when Brandon Saunders hit a home run to right center, cutting the lead to 2-1.

Pullin kicked off another scoring inning for FIU, by walking in the sixth. Lopez advanced him with a sacrifice bunt and then Nanita singled to get Pullin home, making the score 3-1 in favor of the Golden Panthers.

NMSU came back to take the lead in top of the seventh. Alex Borgo tripled to knock in two runs and tie the game before Mote singled to score Borgo from third and give the Aggies a 4-3 lead.

Borgo gave the Aggies another run in the eighth with an RBI single through the left side. Keith Jenkins then hit his own RBI single in the ninth to give NMSU its 6-3 lead.

The Golden Panthers and the Aggies square off in the second game of the series tomorrow afternoon at 1:00 p.m. The game will be broadcast on Radiate 88, FIU’s student radio station. The student broadcast can be heard on 88.1 FM in Miami or on the Internet at http://wrgp.fiu.edu/sports.