Baseball Routs No. 18 Florida 16-8
Feb. 4, 2000
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The Defending National Champion Miami Hurricanes (3-2) surged back into the win column with a 16-8 victory over 18th-ranked and previously undefeated Florida (3-1) at Mark Light Stadium on the UM campus.
The Hurricanes, who had entered tonight’s game with back-to-back shut out losses in their previous two games, extended their home win streak over the Gators to nine games dating back to the 1996 season.
UM totaled 19 hits off Gator pitchers, including 10 off reliever Craig Mosher. The 19 hits equaled Miami’s hit total from its first four games. The 16 runs scored were the most since a 17-1 defeat of Winthrop last May and most against the Gators since the 1998 season.
Miami brought a 3-1 lead into the third inning, when the UM bats started to come alive. Junior right fielder Manny Crespo hit a home run to center field in the bottom of the third inning to bring the lead to 4-1. Crespo also hit a home run in the seventh and a big double in the fifth that ignited four UM runs. For the game, Crespo had a career-best four runs scored and five RBI off of three hits.
UF brought the score to as close as 4-3 going into the bottom of the fourth, but the Hurricanes exploded with 12 more runs throughout the remaining five innings.
Senior ace David Gil (0-0) earned a no-decision, keeping his streak of 14 consecutive wins alive, while junior reliever Greg Howell (1-0) earned his first win since an elbow surgery forced him to miss most of the 1999 season. UF starter Jimmy Ramshaw (0-1) took the loss for the Gators.
The Hurricanes put the game away in the fifth inning as four runs scored. In the fifth, UM totaled four extra-base hits, five hits total, with back-to-back home runs by third baseman Lale Esquivel and catcher Mike DiRosa.
Miami and Florida play the second game of the two-game series tomorrow night, Saturday, February 5 at 7 p.m. at Mark Light Stadium. The game will be televised on tape-delay at 11:00 p.m. by SportsChannel Florida and live over the radio by WQAM 560 AM, WACC 830 AM (spanish) and WVUM 90.5 FM.
