Hurricanes Capture Seventh Straight with 6-4 Win Over South Florida
March 12, 2003
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Miami’s 13th-ranked baseball team won its seventh straight game, 6-4, over South Florida Wednesday night in front of 1,302 fans at Mark Light Field.
“I felt like we were really thin on pitching coming into the game,” Head Coach Jim Morris said. “We needed some guys to come in and get some quality innings on the mound. And then we had to score some runs because I knew it was going to take at least three or four pitchers.”
Miami improved to 14-3 on the season, while USF fell to 11-6. Freshman Andrew Lane notched the first win of his career (1-1) with 2.2 innings of middle relief. Junior Andrew Cohn pitched the final 1.2 innings to pick up his first save of the season. Utility infielder Alex Blanco also made the first appearance of his career on the mound, throwing 2.1 innings of scorless relief. The Canes used four pitchers on the night, while the Bulls threw five.
At the plate, Erick San Pedro went 3-for-4 with an RBI to pace the Hurricanes. The three hits set a new career best for the sophomore catcher for Hialeah, Fla.
UM jumped on top 1-0 in the second inning as Tom Shannon scored from third base on a balk by USF’s starting pitcher Chris Delaney. Brian Barton reached on an error by Myron Leslie with one out and moved to second base on a fielders choice off the bat of Tom Shannon. Barton was then thrown out at third base attempting to steal. Miami catcher Erick San Pedro then ripped a double down the left-field line.
USF opened the third inning with a single from Bryan Hierlmeier and a double from Myron Leslie. Jeff Baisley tied the score at 1-1 with a sacrifice fly ball to center field. Devin Ivany then drilled an RBI single to center field to take a 2-1 lead. The rally chased Albir from the game and Lane came in to get the final two outs of the inning.
Ryan Braun led off the third inning with a walk and moved to third base on Jim Burt’s single to right field. Gaby Sanchez followed with a screaming line-drive double off the center field wall, scoring Braun and Burt.
Delaney followed by issuing free passes to both Barton and Shannon, chasing him from the game. Travis Rios then surrendered an RBI single to San Pedro extending the lead to 4-2. Barton was thrown out at home plate on a great throw by the left fielder.
Jeff Baisley led off the fifth inning with a home run to center field to close the UM lead to 4-3.
A throwing error on Leslie at shortstop scored Burt, who had singled earlier in the inning to give the Hurricanes a 5-3 lead through five innings.
Miami extended the lead to 6-3 in the seventh inning on a Joey Hooft sacrifice fly to left field. Hooft entered the game in top of the sixth inning when third baseman Gaby Sanchez left the game with a finger injury. Ricks moved to third base to replace Sanchez with Hooft taking over at second base.
The Bulls added one run in the top of the ninth inning, but Cohn induced a 5-4-3 double play to end the game.
Miami will take one day off before returning to the diamond for a three-game series with Rutgers that begins on Friday. Game times are set for 7 p.m. on Friday, March 14th and Saturday, March 15th with the Sunday, March 16th, series finale starting at 1 p.m. at Mark Light Field.
