Baseball Falls To Ball State 12-4.
March 13, 2002
Coral Gables, Fla. (www.hurricanesports.com) – The University of Miami baseball team (10-9) was defeated by Ball State (4-5), 12-4, in front of 1,107 fans at Mark Light Stadium Wednesday night.
BSU starter Bryan Bullington (1-2) earned the win going 8.0 innings allowing four runs on eight hits with 13 strikeouts and two walks. UM’s Vince Bongiovanni (0-1) took the loss in his first career start after going 4.1 innings with five hits, five earned runs, three walks, five strikeouts and two wild pitches.
The Hurricanes opened the scoring in the bottom of the first inning, 1-0, when Javy Rodriguez scored from third on a Danny Matienzo ground out into a double play. Rodriguez led off the inning with a double to centerfield and moved to third on Kevin Howard’s bunt single to the pitcher.
Ball State tied the game, 1-1, in the second when Brad Snyder scored from third on a RBI groundout by Doug Boone. The Cardinals loaded the bases in the inning with no outs, but recorded an infield fly out, a ground out and a strikeout to score just once.
The Cardinals once again loaded the bases with no outs in the fourth inning and scored just once, 2-1, on Bongiovanni’s wild pitch that brought Snyder in from third. Snyder led off with a walk and moved to third on Adam Metzler’s single to right center. The bases were then loaded on a walk to Matt Deckman.
BSU went ahead, 6-1, in the fifth inning scoring four times on four hits on three UM pitchers. With Bongiovanni on the mound, two runs scored. Jason Bucholtz led off with an infield grounder to the shortstop and stole second. He then scored on Ben Schroeder’s single to centerfield. Schroeder moved to second on the play. Schroeder scored the second run on a sacrifice fly RBI from Scott French. Brandon Camardese came in and struck out the lone batter faced, Snyder, before being relieved by Vince Vazquez. Vazquez proceeded to give up a two-run home run to Metzler to right center.
Miami scored once in the sixth inning, 6-2, when Bullington walked in Hooft from third on bases loaded. Hooft led off with a single to left center. Danny Figueroa was then hit by a Bullington pitch to put runners on first and second. Rodriguez loaded the bases with an infield single to the third baseman. After Howard struck out, Matienzo drew the RBI walk on Bullington. Bullington then struck out Kevin Mannix and Matt Dryer to end the threat.
BSU went up 9-2 in the seventh, including two runs off an error with two outs showing. Schroeder led of with a single to right field. He then moved to third on another single to right field by French. Henry knocked in Schroeder with a single to left center and moved to second on the play. After two outs were recorded, both French and Henry came in on a throwing error to first by Rodriguez on a Deckman grounder.
Miami scored twice in the eighth, 9-4. Dryer’s RBI single to left field scored the first run, Matienzo from second. Matienzo reached on a one-out single to centerfield. Mannix followed with a single to right field to put Matienzo on second. After Burt struck out, Brad Safchik reached on a fielding error by the second baseman. Matt Barket was hit by a Bullington pitch to bring in Mannix for the second run of the inning.
The Cardinals scored three more runs in the top of the ninth giving them a 12-4 lead.
The Hurricanes return to action this weekend as they host Rutgers for a three-game series beginning Friday, March 15 at 7 p.m. The Saturday game will also have a 7 p.m. first pitch, followed by 1 p.m. on Sunday. Saturday evening’s contest will be televised by Fox Sports Net Florida. All three games can also be heard over the Internet at www.hurricanesports.com or on the student voice of the Hurricanes, WVUM 90.5 FM
Log on to www.hurricanesports.com for updated news on the University of Miami athletics program, tickets and apparel. For ticket information call the Hurricane ticket box office at 1-800 GO CANES.
