FIU claims series victory over ULL

• Advocate news services
• Published: Mar 31, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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LAFAYETTE — Florida International jumped on the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s pitching in the first two innings and held off the Cajuns baseball team, 8-4, Sunday at M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field.

ULL (11-14, 5-7 Sun Belt) has now lost seven of its first 10 home games this season while FIU (11-18, 5-4) won its second straight Sun Belt Conference series.

The bottom five hitters in the Cajuns’ lineup combined for six of the Cajuns’ nine hits, while their 3, 4 and 5 hitters went a combined 0-for-14.

Michael Cook (3-2) entered with a 3-2 lead in the second inning, but would relinquish it before suffering the loss. Cook, who relieved starter Brent Solich, was tagged with five runs on eight hits with four strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings.

FIU senior Eric Horstmann (2-0) pitched 61/3 innings of nearly flawless relief, scattering four hits.

Josh Logan, Jordan Poirrier and William Long had two hits each for ULL, while Brian Bowman added a hit and two RBIs.

TULANE 12, UAB 10: In Birmingham, Ala., Drew Allain and Jared Dyer had three hits each and combined for the biggest defensive play of the day as the Green Wave claimed the series win.

Jonathan Garrett (2-1) pitched five innings for the win and Preston Claiborne threw the final four innings for his second save of the season for Tulane (18-8, 2-1 C-USA). UAB fell to 9-15, 1-5.

Allain had a double and a walk while scoring three times, and Dyer tallied a double, a home run and a career-high five RBIs. The big play, however, came in the seventh when the Blazers’ Austin Taylor looped a single to right with runners at first and second and one away.

Running on contact, Ryan Keedy took off from second and rounded third hard with his sights set on scoring. Allain, however, fired a dart from the outfield to Dyer, who laid a perfect tag to change the complexion of the game.

SLU 17, MCNEESE STATE 11: In Lake Charles, the Lions scored nine runs over the last two innings to win the Southland Conference series 2-1 over the Cowboys.

Southeastern Louisiana (14-11, 5-4 SLC) had 17 hits, including a Ty Summerlin grand slam and a William Lefever three-run shot.

Summerlin drove in six runs while Lefever finished with four RBIs. Brandon Street had three hits, as did Matthew Schexnayder.