Hurricanes Fall To No. 2 Florida State, 6-4
April 19, 2003
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The second-largest crowd in Mark Light Field history turned out Saturday night with 7,347 tickets sold, as second-ranked Florida State beat 11th-ranked Miami, 6-4.
“What a great crowd,” UM Head Coach Jim Morris said. “We didn’t give them a lot to cheer for, but it was the best crowd we have had since I’v been here.”
Miami fell to 28-9 on the season, while Florida State improves to 36-6.
UM starter Vince Bongiovanni went 1.1 innings, allowing four runs on five hits. Alex Perez came on in relief and turned in the best outing of his career with 4.2 innings, giving up two runs on two hits. George Huguet pitched the final 2.1 innings for his 99th career appearance, tying him with Danny Graves for fourth all time at Miami.
Matt Lynch picked up the win for FSU, moving to 9-2 on the season. Lynch allowed four runs on five hits, while striking out six and walking two. Daniel Hodges came on in the ninth to record his 10th save of the season.
Adam Ricks led the UM offense with a 2-for-4 performance and three RBIs. Brain Barton also collected two hits to aide the Hurricanes’ offense.
FSU jumped out to an early 3-0 lead off UM starter Vince Bongiovanni. The right-hander surrendered a first-inning two-run home run to Eddy Martinez-Esteve. The Seminoles added another run on a Blake Balkcom RBI single with two outs.
Bongiovanni was lifted with one out in the second inning for Perez, who then gave up an RBI single as the Noles went on top 4-0.
The Hurricanes got right back in the game with a Ricks’ three-run home run over the scoreboard in left field. Gaby Sanchez led off third inning with an opposite field single and Danny Figueroa followed with a walk before Ricks’ home run.
Richie doubled to lead off the fifth inning and came around to score on a RBI ground out by Jerrod Brown to give the Seminoles a 5-3 lead.
UM pulled within one run at 5-4 on Danny Figueroa’s second career home run. The solo shot sailed over the left-field fence.
Florida State got a run back in the seventh inning to extend its lead to 6-4 with an RBI single from Brown to score Stephen Drew.
The Hurricanes and Noles will wrap up the series with a 1 p.m. game a Mark Light Field on Sunday.
