Box Score Box Score
MIAMI – Southeastern Louisiana's
Brandon Efferson pitched seven solid innings, allowing one run and striking out three, while the Lion defense made several key defensive plays in helping snap Garrett Wittels' 56-game hitting streak in a 10-2 win over Florida International in the season opener for both teams Friday at FIU Baseball Stadium.
The series resumes on Saturday at noon CST and will be televised on ESPN3.com. Junior college transfer
Joseph Koon will make his debut for Southeastern (1-0) while Illinois transfer Phil Haig will make his debut for FIU (0-1).
With a crowd of 1,755 on hand and a national audience watching on ESPN3, it was Southeastern that came out on fire sending eight men to the plate in the first inning and taking a 4-0 lead.
Southeastern got on the board after
Jeff Harkensee grounded out to R.J. Fondon (0-1) for the second out of the frame.
Josh Cryer drew a walk on a full count that loaded the bases and two pitches later,
Joe Sparacino was hit to drive in
Jonathan Pace to give the Lions a 1-0 lead.
Cody Gougler then laced a double past FIU third baseman Jeremy Patton, allowing
Justin Boudreaux and Cryer to score for a 3-0 lead. The Lions took a 4-0 lead when
Brock Hebert grounded to Patton at third which would have ended the inning, but a heads-up base-running by Gougler (who was caught in a run-down) allowed Sparacino to score before the final out was made for a 4-0 lead.
“Our guys handled the environment very well and stayed focused throughout the game,” Southeastern head coach
Jay Artigues said. “Tonight was a great environment for college baseball and it was a media circus. I thought the first inning was huge and took the pressure off us and let us play baseball the rest of the night.
“Cass (Hargis) and Cody (Gougler) did a great job in getting hits in the inning and we did a good job of getting on base and applying pressure and scoring runs early.”
The Lions added two more runs in the second after an error by Wittels allowed
Trey Martin and
Cass Hargis to score for a 6-1 lead. Martin led off with a walk before Hargis singled through the right side to put runners on first and second.
After Pace moved the runners over on a sacrifice bunt, Boudreaux hit a hard grounder that got past Wittels into center-field.
Efferson (1-0) scattered three hits to an FIU squad that hit .337 as a team last season, including Wittels' .413 average. The senior right-hander fanned three batters and was aided by a defense that turned a pair of double plays and made key outs when it was needed.
Wittels, who was looking to break Robin Ventura's NCAA Division I record of 58 consecutive games with a hit set in 1987, went 0-for-4. He reached on a fielder's choice in the first inning before fouling out to Gougler leading off the fourth.
On his third at-bat in the sixth, Wittels appeared to have been hit on his left hand by an Efferson fastball. But home plate umpire Michael Baker ruled that Wittels fouled off the pitch with the end of his bat, keeping him at the plate and giving him another chance of extending the streak.
Wittels hit the next pitch to Pace at third, leaving him at 0-for-3 on the night with at least one more plate appearance remaining.
The All-American got his chance in the eighth after Efferson was chased after walking Yoandy Barroso and hitting pinch-hitter David Vazquez to open the inning. Joel Capote greeted reliever
Stefan Lopez with a single before Jeremy Patton flied out to left field to keep the bases loaded and give Wittels one last chance.
Wittels hit a 1-0 pitch off Lopez that was stopped by Pace, who then beat Vazquez to the bag at third for the second out and ending Wittels' chance at extending the streak.
The Lions took advantage in the ninth, sending nine men to the plate and adding four more runs to put the game away. Hebert, who went 3-for-4 to lead the Lions at the plate, opened the inning with a single to left, stole second and scored when Jose Velazquez's throw sailed past Rudy Flores at first on an attempted sacrifice by Martin.
Pace, the lone newcomer to the starting lineup for Southeastern, followed with a triple that landed just inside the right-field line and Sparacino followed four batters later with an RBI single that extended his hitting streak to 13 games dating back to last season.
Hargis, who went 2-for-4, scored his 176th career run that tied him with former Lion
Ty Summerlin for the most in school history. Gougler went 2-for-4 for Southeastern, which had 11 hits off five FIU pitchers in the contest and capitalized off four Panther errors.
Southeastern La..... 420 000 004 - 10 11 2
FIU................. 100 000 010 - 2 4 4
Efferson, Lopez (8) and Cryer. Fondon, Dodds (4), McVay (8), Velazquez (9), Cardenas (9) and Behar, Leon (9). Win – Efferson (1-0). L - Fondon (0-1). E – Hebert 2 (2), Wittels (1), Shantz (1), Behar (1), Velazquez (1). DP - SLU 2; FIU 1. LOB - SLU 6; FIU 6. 2B – Gougler (1), Capote (1). 3B – Pace (1). HBP - Pace, Sparacino, Bermudez, Vazquez. SH – Pace (1), Martin 2 (2). SB – Boudreaux (1), Hebert (1). CS – Sparacino (1), Gougler (1), Hebert (1). T - 3:19. A – 1,755.
