Baseball Defeats Tennessee, 5-4
Feb. 1, 2002
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (www.hurricanesports.com) – The University of Miami baseball team (1-0) opened the season with a victory over Tennessee Friday night at Mark Light Stadium in front of 4,632 fans. The Hurricanes and Volunteers continue their three-game series Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m.
Miami’s victory improved UM’s record in opening games to 37-21, including a 23-3 record in openers at Mark Light Stadium. Miami extended its active winning streak to 18 games after closing the 2001 National Championship season with a 17-game win streak.
Reliever J.D. Cockroft (1-0) earned the victory for Miami, working 2/3 of an inning in relief of starter Troy Roberson in the fifth inning. Patrick Hicklen (0-1) suffered the loss for Tennessee, working 3 2/3 innings and allowing five runs (two earned) on six hits without a strikeout and walking one, in addition to hitting two batters. Vince Vasquez picked up the save for the Hurricanes as he worked 1 1/3 flawless innings of relief to close out the game. Vasquez retired all four Tennessee hitters he faced, striking out two.
The Hurricanes opened the scoring in the second, 1-0, as Kevin Mannix scored on a throwing error by the second baseman on Matt Dryer’s fielder’s choice. Mannix reached first base when he was hit by a pitch and advanced to second on Haas Pratt’s fielder’s choice
Tennessee answered right back in the third with an RBI sacrifice fly to left center by Brandon Hopkins scoring Dennis Gomez from third. Gomez led the off inning with a single to right field and advanced to third on a Jordan Czarniecki double off the centerfield wall.
Miami added four more runs in the fourth giving the Hurricanes a 5-1 lead. Mannix led off the inning with a single to left field, moved to second on a walk by Pratt and reached third on a wild pitch. Dryer hit a two RBI single to short scoring Mannix and Pratt. Dryer then moved to second on Jim Burt’s sacrifice bunt, moved to third on Joey Hooft’s sacrifice bunt and scored on Javy Rodriguez’ RBI sacrifice fly to center. Burt scored the final run of the inning on an RBI single by Danny Figueroa, his first hit as a Hurricane.
The Volunteers cut the lead, 5-2, after Dennis Gomez scored on pinch hitter Hunter Rigsby’s sacrifice fly to left field. Gomez struck out but reached first on a passed ball, advanced to second on a walk by Czarniecki and moved to third on a single to right by Sevilla.
Tennessee added two more runs to pull within 5-4. Brandon Hopkins led off the inning with a single to right field and moved to third when Javi Herrera singled to right. A walk to Hal Bibee loaded the bases and Hopkins scored when Matt Sternberg grounded into a double play that left the Vols with Herrera at third with two out. With Andrew Cohn replacing Daniel Touchet on the mound for Miami, Ryan Moffett scored Herrera with an infield single. Vince Vasquez then replaced Cohn on the hill and retired Tennessee’s Jordan Czarniecki on a foul to the catcher to end the inning.
