Baseball Evens Series With Rutgers 8-3
March 16, 2002
Coral Gables, Fla. (www.hurricanesports.com) – – The University of Miami (11-10) evened the weekend series with Rutgers (7-4), 8-3, in front of 2,097 fans Saturday night at Mark Light Stadium.
Miami and Rutgers will conclude the series on Sunday at 1 p.m. The student voice of the Hurricanes, WVUM 90.5 FM, will carry the radio broadcast. The radio broadcast can also be heard on the Internet at www.hurricanesports.com.
UM starter T.J. Prunty (3-0) earned the victory with 6.0 innings, six hits, two earned runs, five walks and two strikeouts. Rutgers starter Tom Crohan (1-2) scored the loss.
Javy Rodriguez and Matt Dryer each did their parts offensively to assist the Hurricanes to victory. Rodriguez went 2-for-4 with three runs scored and two stolen bases, while Dryer also went 2-for-4 with two doubles, one run scored and three RBI. Brad Safchik also had two hits for the Hurricanes with a run scored and a RBI.
Dryer also leads the team with a career-best 17-game hitting streak entering Sunday. Kevin Howard and Danny Matienzo, who each had singles, also have career-long hitting streaks of 16 and 15 games, respectively.
The Hurricanes opened the scoring, 3-0, in the third on RBI hits from Dryer and Howard. With one out, Rodriguez singled to left field then moved to second on a Crohan balk. He stole third as Safchik drew a walk. Safchik stole second to put both runners in scoring position. After Matienzo struck out, Dryer came up with a two-RBI double to left field. Howard followed with a RBI single to right field scoring Dryer.
Miami added a pair of runs, 5-0, in the fourth inning on Safchik’s single to left field that drove in Jim Burt and Rodriguez. Rodriguez scored when an error was charged to the third baseman on the relay throw from the outfield. Burt led off the inning with a walk and took second on Haas Pratt’s ground out. Rutgers intentionally walked Rodriguez before Safchik’s RBI single.
Rutgers cut the lead, 5-2, in the seventh scoring two runs on consecutive bases-loaded walks by reliever Shawn Valdes-Fauli. With Prunty on the mound, Rutgers loaded the bases on Nick Cerulo’s single to centerfield, Graig Badger’s walk and a hit-by-pitch to Ryan Lillis. Reliever Andrew Cohn entered the game and retired Val Majewski with a infield pop out to second base. Valdes-Fauli entered and walked Mike Popowski to score Cerulo. After Jeff Frazier line out to first base for the second out, Steve Normane drew a walk to score Badger.
Miami added a run, 6-2, in the bottom of the seventh as Matienzo scored from third on a passed ball. With one out he reached on a single to centerfield, moved to second on a walk to Dryer. A wild pitch moved both runners over a base.
The Scarlet Knights scored once, 6-3, in the eighth when Lillis drove in Cerulo from third with an infield single to third base. Cerulo reached on a double to left center and moved to third on Badger’s fly out to right field.
Miami added a pair of runs, 8-3, in the eighth. Danny Figueroa led off with a double down the left field line and moved to third on Rodriguez’ bunt single. Rodriguez stole his second base of the night to put runners on second and third. Safchik loaded the bases with another infield single. Matienzo then drove in Figueroa with a fielder’s choice grounder to the shortstop, with Safchik out on the play. Dryer knocked in Rodriguez with a double, his second of the night, to left field. Matienzo was thrown out at home on the play with Dryer moving to third.
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