Hurricanes Drop 8-7 Decision to The Citadel
Feb. 28, 2003
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The Miami baseball team (7-3) fell to The Citadel (3-3), 8-7, in the first game of a three-game weekend series in front of 2,442 fans Friday night at Mark Light Field.
The Hurricanes’ designated hitter Ryan Braun led the offense going 2-for-4 at the plate, scoring two runs and hitting a two-run home run deep over the center field wall.
Miami starter J.D. Cockroft (2-0) took a no decision, pitching a career-high five innings and giving up five hits, four runs (one earned) and a walk, while striking out four. Hurricane freshman reliever Andrew Lane (0-1) took the loss allowing one hit, two runs and a walk in 0.1 innings of work. Bulldogs’ pitcher Ken Egleton (1-0) recorded the win for The Citadel going 3.1 innings, giving up four hits, one earned run and a walk, while striking out four hitters.
The Citadel jumped on Cockroft early, scoring two runs in the first inning on two hits and an error by third baseman Gaby Sanchez. Jon Aughey led off the game with a single between first and second base. Andy Phillips sacrificed Aughey to second base and moved to third on Sanchez’s throwing error. Phillips then scored on catcher Jason Randall’s single.
Miami answered in the bottom half of the inning as Danny Figueroa led off with a single to right field and then promptly stole second base. The stolen base was his team-high seventh of the season; he would later add his eighth. Adam Ricks followed with a RBI single. After a fly ball out to center field by Ryan Braun and a ground out to the shortstop by Jim Burt, Braun scored on a single by Sanchez.
The Bulldogs scored two more runs in the third inning, highlighted by a RBI double that one-hopped the wall in right field. The Citadel scored its second run on a past ball by UM catcher Greg Dini.
Braun tied the score again at 4-4 with a towering two-run home run over the screen in center field. Sanchez followed with a single and scored on Richard Giannotti’s double down the right-field line to put the Hurricanes on top for the first time. Giannotti got the start in right field after missing the first nine games of the season with a sore shoulder.
The Citadel loaded the bases in the fifth inning with the help of two UM errors, but Cockroft struck out Randall looking and got first baseman Chip Cannon to fly out to center field to end the threat.
UM tacked on another run in the bottom of the fifth inning as Braun opened the inning with his second hit of the night, a single up the middle. Braun came around to score on a ground out by Giannotti.
The Bulldogs came right back in the top of the sixth inning scoring two runs on two UM throwing errors and a past ball by Dini.
The Citadel took the lead in the seventh with a home run by Randall, who went opposite field on reliever Andrew Lane. After walking Cannon, Lane gave way to Shawn Valdes-Fauli who induced a ground ball to shortstop Alex Blanco, who had came into the game as a defensive replacement for Paco Figueroa at the start of the inning. Valdes-Fauli wasn’t out of trouble, hitting Stackley and surrendering a RBI double to Brook Dantzler, as the Bulldogs lengthened their lead to 8-6.
Tom Shannon pulled the Hurricanes within one run at 8-7 with an eighth-inning leadoff home run. The blast was the first of his career at UM.
The Hurricanes continue the series with The Citadel Saturday, March 1, at 7 p.m. at Mark Light Field on the UM campus.
