Baseball Tops No. 21 Wake Forest, 6-3
Jan. 28, 2000
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – The Defending National Champion Miami Hurricanes (2-0) opened up play at the ACC/Disney Baseball Blast with a 6-3 victory over No. 21 Wake Forest (0-1) at Disney’s Wide World of Sports.
UM has now won a national leading 13 straight dating back to the 1999 regular season series at Long Beach State, followed by a 9-0 march through the postseason.
Senior ace David Gil (1-0) earned his 14th consecutive win, dating back to the 1998 season, going 5.0 innings and allowing zero runs on three hits. Gil, who has earned a victory in his last 10 appearances, gave up zero walks and struck out five.
The fourth-ranked Hurricanes scored their first run in the third inning when sophomore shortstop Javy Rodriguez scored junior second baseman Kris Clute from second base with an RBI single to center field.
The score remained 1-0 in favor of UM until the eighth inning when the Hurricanes put together a five-run outburst in the top of the inning with two outs.
Sophomore left fielder Marcus Nettles reached base on an error and stole second, followed by another error that allowed him to reach third. Junior first baseman Kevin Brown scored Nettles from third on a RBI single down the first base line. After Brown stole second, senior third baseman Lale Esquivel reached base on a walk. Each player then advanced a base following a Matt Briggs wild pitch. Sophomore catcher Mike DiRosa then scored both base runners with a two-RBI single over third base. Freshman DH Danny Matienzo rounded out UM’s eighth inning barrage when he hit the Hurricanes first home run of the season on a 1-1 pitch over the left field wall to also score DiRosa.
UM pitching held Wake Forest in check for nearly the entire game as the Hurricanes held the Demon Deacons scoreless through eight innings.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Wake Forest put its three runs on the scoreboard after the Demon Deacons jumped on UM reliever Alex Prendes. WFU had four hits in the inning, two of which were triples.
Sophomore closer Luke DeBold finished the game for UM going 0.2 innings forcing two ground outs.
WFU’s starting pitcher in the game Scott Siemon (0-1) was impressive, as he went 5.0 innings giving up just one run with 10 strikeouts.
UM will play Clemson on Saturday, Jan. 29 at 7 p.m. The game will be televised locally by the Sunshine Network and nationally on Fox Sports Net. WVUM 90.5 FM will provide the radio broadcast as well.
