Miami Baseball Evens Series With FSU
June 3, 2000
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Miami Hurricanes took advantage of six FloridaState errors and withstood elimination as they defeated the Seminoles, 7-5,in Game Two of NCAA Super Regional action Saturday night at Dick HowserStadium. The Hurricanes improved to 41-18-1 on the year while FSU fell to50-17. The deciding game of the series will be played on Sunday at 1 p.m.,with the winner advancing to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.
“Our guys fought hard tonight,” Miami Head Coach Jim Morris said. “Weplayed very well together as a team. A lot of our guys could be up here atthe podium right now. We need to come out and do the same thing tomorrow.”Pichi Balet gave the Seminoles a 2-0 lead in the second inning with aone-out, two-run shot over the left field fence for his seventh home run ofthe year. Ryan Barthelemy led off the inning with a base hit to right andscored on the Balet home run.
The Hurricanes used of a couple of Florida State errors to take a 3-2 leadin the bottom of the second. Manny Crespo led off the inning with a walk andwent to second on a base hit to left by Kevin Brown. Both runners advancedon a sacrifice by Kris Clute and the ‘Canes had runners in scoring positionwith one out. Mike DiRosa grounded into a routine play that scored Crespo,but Balet, the FSU third baseman, errored on the throw to first, allowingBrown to score as well. DiRosa went to second on the play, advanced tothird on a ground out by Mike Rodriguez, and scored on a throwing error byFSU shortstop Brett Groves which put Kevin Howard on base. Javy Rodriguezmoved Howard to second with an infield hit and both runners advanced on adouble steal. Lale Esquivel grounded out to second to end the inning.
FSU tied the game at 3-3 in the fourth inning as Karl Jernigan hit hissixth home run of the year with a solo shot to left center.
Miami answered again and went up 4-3 in the fourth. With one out, DiRosadoubled to right and went to third on a ground out by Mike Rodriguez.Howard drove in DiRosa with a single to left center.
The ‘Canes extended their lead to four in the fifth inning with three runsoff of three hits and a Seminole error. Esquivel led off the inning with adouble to the left field corner. Danny Matienzo’s shot off the right fieldfence drove in Esquivel and the Seminoles brought in Nick Whidden to replacestarting pitcher Jon McDonald. Crespo came through with a base hit tocenter in a hit and run and Matienzo advanced all the way to third. Brownhit a shot to Groves, who threw home for the out, but the throw went wideand two runs scored.
The Seminoles rallied for two runs in the seventh inning. With one out,Blair McCaleb and Chris Smith hit back-to-back singles. John-Ford Griffinblasted a double to center, scoring McCaleb and the ‘Canes replaced starterBrian Walker with Luke DeBold. Marshall McDougall drove in Smith with aground out to short and Griffin went to third. DeBold walked Barthelemy andwith runners on the corners, Jernigan flied out to deep right field to endthe inning.
“This was just a real credit to the University of Miami,” FSU Head CoachMike Martin said, “taking advantage of the mistakes that we made. I was soproud of the way our ballclub kept fighting. We did not play extremelywell, but I was just so proud of the way we kept getting after it. Miamidid exactly what they needed to do to win.”
Walker earned the win for Miami, going 6.1 innings with six strikeouts, andimproved to 12-2. Howard led ‘Canes with two hits, while DiRosa scored tworuns. McDonald got the loss and fell to 11-5. Balet led the Tribe with twohits and two RBI while McCaleb also had two hits.
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WP: Brian Walker (12-2), LP: Jon McDonald (11-5)
2B – FSU (1) – John-Ford Griffin, Miami (2) – Mike DiRosa, Lale Esquivel
HR – FSU (2) – Pichi Balet, Karl Jernigan
