Miami Baseball Suffers Series-Opening Loss To FSU
June 2, 2000
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida State sophomore Chris Smith recorded acareer-high six RBI with a double and a grand slam to lead the Seminoles toa 9-2 victory over Miami in the best-of-three NCAA Super Regional series atDick Howser Stadium. FSU improved to 50-16 while the Hurricanes fell to40-18-1 on the year.
Miami wasted no time with a run off of three hits in the first inning.Mike Rodriguez and Kevin Howard had back-to-back singles to right field tostart things off. Rodriguez, who went to third on Howard’s base hit, scoredon a single to center by Javy Rodriguez. FSU pitcher Blair Varnes settleddown to retire the side as the Seminole defense turned a double play andVarnes recorded his first strikeout of the contest.
Florida State took a 4-1 lead in the second inning with three hits, whiletaking advantage of a couple of walks. Ryan Barthelemy led off with a walkand Karl Jernigan reached base when he was hit by Miami pitcher David Gil.Pichi Balet drove in Barthelemy with a single to right. John Hallidayfollowed with a base hit to right to load the bases. With one out, BlairMcCaleb reached on a walk, scoring Balet, then Chris Smith extended hishitting streak to 23 games with a two-run double to center field.
The Hurricanes picked up their final run in the third off of two doubles.Leadoff hitter Mike Rodriguez doubled to right for his second hit of thegame. He scored on a one-out double to left field by Javy Rodriguez, whorecorded his second hit and second RBI of the game.
Barthelemy led off the FSU third with a solo home run to right to give theTribe a 5-2 advantage. It was Barthelemy’s 11th home run of the season.Miami threatened in the top of the eighth when Mike Rodriguez again led offwith a single then, with one out, Javy Rodriguez singled off FSU relieverChris Ginn. Freshman reliever Robby Read came in and shut down the ‘Canesrally with back-to-back strikeouts.
Smith put the game out of reach in the bottom half of the eighth. With oneout and the bases loaded, Smith hit a grand slam over the right field wall.It was his 13th home run of the season.
FSU pitcher Matt Lynch struck out the side in the Miami ninth to cap theSeminoles’ victory.
Varnes improved to 11-2 in seven innings on the mound. He struck out sixand walked just one. Gil fell to 11-3 and gave up a season-high 10 hits in7.1 innings of action. He struck out two and walked three. Gil also tied aMiami record, hitting three batters.
‘We didn’t capitalize a couple of times when we had opportunities,” MiamiHead Coach Jim Morris said. “Early we had a chance with Varnes pitching andwe let him out of that situation with only one run. We had the bases loadedand no outs and in that situation, we needed a big hit and we didn’t get it.”The two teams will square off again at 7 p.m., on Saturday.
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