Baseball Defeats South Florida 13-9 In Slugger's Fest
March 14, 2001
Tampa, Fla. (www.hurricanesports.com) — – The University of Miami baseball team (19-5), ranked as high as seventh in the Baseball America and ESPN/Baseball Weekly Coaches’ polls, swept its two-game series with South Florida (8-11) with a 13-9 victory at Red McEwen Field on the USF campus.
In the game, the Hurricanes and Bulls each recorded 15 hits apiece. Five UM batters had multiple-hit efforts, led by Kevin Howard’s 4-for-5 performance at the plate. Howard’s hits included a double and the game’s lone home run. Marcus Nettles, Mike Rodriguez, Javy Rodriguez and Jim Burt each had two hits.
Relief pitcher Dan Smith (1-0) earned his first career win in the game after pitching a career-best 4.0 innings with three hits, one unearned run, no walks and one strikeout. Smith was the pitcher in relief for Jeff Reboin. Reboin, in his first career start, allowed nine hits, seven runs (three earned) with no walks or strikeouts. The game was tied, 7-7, at his departure. The relief pitching (Smith, Vince Vazquez, Andrew Cohn and George Huguet), in 7.0 innings, allowed six hits, two runs (one earned), two walks with five strikeouts.
Miami took the lead for good with a five-run, six-hit, fifth inning when USF reliever John Uhl (1-3) was on the mound. Uhl also balked in a bunt in the frame. Following the inning, Uhl and assistant coach Tom Reidy were ejected.
The Hurricanes opened up the scoring, 1-0, in the top of the first when Nettles scored from third on a bunt single from Javy Rodriguez to the right of the USF starter Jason Bartz. Nettles led off the inning reaching base on a fielding error by third baseman Myron Leslie, stole second and move tothird on a balk by USF starter Jason Bartz.
The Bulls put together a two-out rally in the bottom of the first to go ahead, 2-1. With one out, Leslie reached first on a single to centerfield and moved to second on a balk. Leslie took third on Chris Cuccia’s ground out to second base. Mike Eylward followed up being hit by a pitch to put runners on first and third. Rick Stegbauer then hit a hard grounder past a lunging Javy Rodriguez to left field to score Leslie, also moving Eylward to third. Mike Barclay then scored Eylward with a single to left center.
Miami answered with four runs off four hits and three USF errors in the second amounting to a 5-2 UM advantage. Howard led off with a double to left field. Burt then hit a double down the left field line to score Howard. Burt moved to third on a ground out bunt by Brad Safchik. Kris Clute hit a single to score Burt and moved to third on a throwing error by the right fielder Bill Nahorodny. Nettles bunted and reached on a fielder’s choice, while Clute came around to score. A throwing error on the play allowed Nettles to move to second. Nettles then scored on Mike Rodriguez’ single to left field.
The Bulls went ahead, 6-5, in the bottom of the second with four runs of their own off Reboin on four hits and one UM error. With two outs already registered, Ben Drawdy reached first on a fielding error by Kevin Brown. Leslie singled to left field for runners at first and second. Cuccia then doubled to left center to score both Drawdy and Leslie. Eylward followed with a single off Howard at third allowing Cuccia to come around and score. Rick Stegbauer ended the scoring with his double down the right field line to bring in Eylward.
Miami went ahead, 7-6, in the third on Howard’s two-run home run to right centerfield that also scored Brown. Brown reached on a walk.
USF tied the game, 7-7, on three hits off Reboin and one on Smith. Nahorodny led off with a double down the left field line. He then scored Allen Shirley’s bloop single to right field. At that point, Reboin was replaced with Smith. Smith would load the bases before Cuccia hit into a double play to end the threat.
The Hurricanes went ahead, 12-7, in the fifth inning on five runs and six hits on Uhl, while batting around in the order. Brown led off the inning with a double to left center. He then took third on a wild pitch and later scored on a balk. Howard singled to left center, followed by a Burt single to left field. Safchik then hit into a fielder’s choice, allowing Howard to move to third and Burt would be out at second. Safchik would steal second, but the throw from the catcher went past the tag scoring Howard. Clute hit a sacrifice fly RBI to right field to score Safchik. Nettles and Mike Rodriguez hit consecutive singles to put more runners on first and second. Javy Rodriguez scored Nettles with a single to right field, moving Mike Rodriguez to third. While the catcher’s throw was late on Javy Rodriguez’ steal to second, Mike Rodriguez stole home for the final run of the inning.
USF dug into the UM lead, 12-8, with one run on one hit and one error in the sixth. Leslie led off with a single to right field. Cuccia hit into a fielder’s choice grounder, but Brown committed a throwing error to allow both runners to advance to second and third. Eylward scored Leslie from third with a sacrifice fly to right field for the lone run.
The Bulls narrowed further into the UM lead, 12-9, in the seventh with one run on two hits off Vazquez. Pinch-hitter Travis Brown doubled down the left field line. He then scored on pinch-hitter Kris Courier’s double into the right center gap.
Miami added one more run, 13-9, in the ninth when pinch-runner Charlton Jimerson scored from third on Nettles’ single to shallow center. Safchik led off the inning with a single to left center. Jimerson pinch ran for Safchik and stole second. Clute laid down a nice sacrifice bunt to move Jimerson over.
With the win, the Hurricanes have now won seven straight over USF in the series and have not dropped a game to the Bulls since the 1998 season. Overall, UM holds a 79-25 lead in the all-time series. Under Head Coach Jim Morris, Miami has defeated USF 15 of 18 games.
Miami returns to action this weekend, March 16-18, against nationally ranked East Carolina for a three-game series at Mark Light Stadium. Game times are scheduled for 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday.
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