Florida Outlasts Hurricanes, 5-3
Feb. 15, 2003
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – A ninth-inning home run off the bat of first baseman Jim Burt wasn’t enough as Miami (14/NR/21) fell 5-3 to the Florida Gators Saturday afternoon at McKethan Stadium in front of 3,594 fans.
The loss dropped the Hurricanes to 4-2 on the young season and evened the intra-state rivalry at one game apiece. Florida improved to 4-1 on the season. The Gators’ relief pitcher Lee Roberson got the win with 3.2 innings of work, allowing three hits and holding UM to only one run. Bongiovanni picked up the loss to even his record at 1-1, he was charged with two earned runs, while striking out five and walking two in 5.1 innings of work.
“They played a better baseball game than we did today,” Miami Head Coach Jim Morris said. “They pitched better, played defense better and did a better job of swinging the bat.”
Things got interesting in the bottom of the seventh after Tom King came in to pitch for the Hurricanes. He retired the lead off hitter before surrendering a walk to Stephen Barton and a double to Matt Cresap. With runners on first and third, Dowdy singled to center field, scoring Barton and apparently Cresap. UM then brought in Shawn Valdes-Fauli to pitch, who appealed to third base where Cresap was ruled out for not touching third base. Florida manager Pat McMahon was ejected from the game for arguing following the play.
J.D. Cockroft then came in to pitch for Valdes-Fauli following a throwing error on Ricks where it was ruled Burt was pulled off first base with the throw. Cockroft subsequently got Garza to fly out to center field to end the inning. When the smoke cleared, the Gators held a 5-2 lead headed into the eighth inning.
Hoyman plunked Danny Figueroa on the first pitch of the sixth inning and the miscue came back to haunt the Florida hurler, as Figueroa came around to score on a wild pitch. With one out, Gaby Sanchez drove a double into the right-field gap and Ryan Braun followed with an RBI single up the middle to tie the score at 2-2. The RBI was the fourth of the season for Braun. Lee Roberson relieved Hoyman and struck out Burt and got Barton to pop out to first base in foul ground. Hoyman left the game after pitching 5.1 innings, giving up four hits and two runs, while walking two with three wild pitches.
After Miami tied the score at 2-2 in the top of the sixth, Jonathan Tucker singled to get things started for UF in bottom half of the inning. He stole second base and then moved to third base Harrison’s ground out to the shortstop. With one out, the Hurricanes went to the bullpen for left-hander Andrew Cohn. Garza greeted Cohn with a sacrifice fly to center field to score Tucker and give UF a 3-2 edge.
Center fielder Danny Figueroa picked up Saturday afternoon right where he left of Friday night with an infield single down the third-base line. Figueroa went 4-for-5 Friday night against the Gators, and his first-inning hit gave him nine hits in his last 10 at bats. He finished the day 1-for-3 at the plate, but scored his team-high 14th run. Adam Ricks, who made his first start at second base on the young season, followed with a lined single to right field that advanced Figueroa to third. Hoyman then worked out of trouble with a foul out by Sanchez and induced an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play off the bat of designated hitter Ryan Braun.
Bongiovanni dug himself an early hole, walking the Gators’ first two hitters on eight pitches. He got back on track with a strikeout of UF’s top hitter Ben Harrison, but both runners advanced on the strikeout with stolen bases. On the next pitch, leadoff hitter Brett Dowdy scored on a past ball by Miami catcher Erick San Pedro. Bongiovanni recorded his second strikeout of the game, fanning Mario Garza for the second out of the inning. He then got C.J. Smith to pop up to first baseman Jim Burt in foul ground to end the inning.
Florida tacked on its second run in the bottom of the third inning when Dowdy led off with a single and Garza doubled down the right-field line to score him. San Pedro picked Garza off second base to end the Florida threat.
Miami and Florida will conclude the series Sunday with the first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. at McKethan Stadium in Gainesville, Fla. For more information check out Miami’s official athletic website www.hurricanesports.com for updated information on the baseball team.
