Miami Defeats Florida, 13-10, To Win Coral Gables Regional
June 1, 2003
Coral Gables, Fla. – The Miami Hurricanes defeated the Florida Gators,13-10, Sunday night in the title game in the NCAA Baseball Tournament’s CoralGables Regional at Mark Light Field on the University of Miami campus.
The teams combined for 31 hits in the game, but Miami was able to build a 9-2lead through four innings that the Gators could not overcome. Miami’s victorygave the Hurricanes their fifth consecutive Super Regional berth.
The NCAA will announce on Monday the sites, dates and times of all SuperRegional action.
Miami’s Shawn Valdes-Fauli (3-0) pitched three and two-thirds innings to earnthe victory. He allowed two runs (one earned) on two hits, struck out fourand did not walk a batter. Florida’s Tommy Boss (2-4) took the loss. He workedfour innings and allowed one earned run on three hits, struck out seven andwalked one.
Miami broke on top with a single run in the first when Danny Figueroa walked,moved to second on a sacrifice, stole third, and scored on an error byFlorida shortstop Matt Graziano on a high chopper by Brian Barton.
In the second, Miami built a 2-0 lead when Danny Figueroa singled to left toscore Eric San Pedro, who had singled. Richard Giannotti, whose double hadmoved San Pedro to third, was stranded when UF reliever Tommy Boss (on in reliefof starter Lee Roberson) coaxed an inning-ending double play grounder by AdamRicks.
In the Florida third, Ben Harrison led off with a double to left field. MarioGarza followed with a double to the right-centerfield wall to score Harrisonand draw the Gators to within 2-1. On the next pitch, C.J. Smith singled downthe third base line to score Garza. Smith was thrown out trying to stretch thehit into a double but Florida had tied the game at 2-2.
The Hurricanes responded in the bottom half of the third with five runs onfive hits, keyed by a three-run home run by Giannotti. Ryan Braun doubled toleft-center field and, with one out, scored on a single to left by Brian Bartonfor a 3-2 Miami lead. Gaby Sanchez singled to right to move Barton to second tochase Boss from the mound for the Gators. UM designated hitter Joey Hooftgreeted UF pitcher Tom Potter with a double to left to score Barton and moveSanchez to third and give UM a 4-2 lead. After a San Pedro struck out, Giannottibelted a three-run home run off the left field scoreboard to give theHurricanes a 7-2 lead.
Miami added two more runs in the fourth. Ricks led off with a single to endPotter’s pitching day. Connor Falkenbach came on for Potter and Braun promptlyslapped a triple to the right field corner to score Ricks and give Miami an8-2 lead. With one out, Barton plated Braun with a sacrifice groundout to firstand the Hurricanes had a 9-2 lead.
Falkenbach worked out of a jam in the Miami fifth. With one out, San Pedroreached on an infield single to second. Giannotti walked, advancing San Pedro.Figueroa reached on an infield hit to third base to load the bases for Rickswho grounded into a 5-4-3 double play to end the inning and thwart a Miamithreat.
The Gators chipped away with a run in the fifth. Corsaletti singled to startthe inning and Tordi reached on an error. The runners advanced on a sacrificebunt by Graziano. With one out, Corsaletti scored on a wild pitch that movedTordi to third and cut Florida’s deficit to 9-3. Perez struck out Tucker, thenwalked Stephen Barton on four pitches to end his pitching performance. He gaveway to Alex Blanco to face Brian Rose. Rose worked the count full beforeBlanco struck him out swinging to strand runners at the corners and preserve asix-run lead for Miami.
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Joey Hooft tries to get the crowd into the game after scoring a run Sunday. |
The Hurricanes advanced the lead to 12-3 with a three-run sixth inning. Braundoubled to left off the glove of third baseman Tordi. Burt, who was 0-for-8on the day to that point, singled to right field to move Braun to third. Braunscored on a double by Barton down the third base line, moving Burt to thirdand giving Miami a 10-3 lead. The Hurricanes opened up a 12-3 lead on a two-runsingle to left field by Sanchez that scored Burt and Barton, endingFalkenbach’s day. UF reliever Bryan Ball got out of the inning without further damage.
The Gators offense arose in the sixth with a five-run explosion keyed bythree home runs. Harrison homered to right-center to lead off the inning. Then,Garza homered to almost the same spot in right-center. Smith walked and scoredwhen Corsaletti homered to right, his second of the game, to draw UF within12-7. Corsaletti’s blast finished Blanco, who gave way to Chiqui Chirino. Chirinogave up a double by Tordi, then Graziano grounded to second, advancing Tordito third. Tucker’s infield singled scored Tordi to make it 12-8 Miami. Bartonwalked and Miami inserted Shawn Valdes-Fauli for Chirino. Valdes-Fauli coaxedRose to ground into an inning-ending, 5-3, double play with Miami guarding afour-run lead.
Florida drew closer in the seventh with one run to pull within 12-9. Harrisonsingled to right and moved to second when Garza singled to right. Smith fliedto right to move Harrison to third. Then Harrison scored on a wild pitch. ButValdes-Fauli worked out of trouble when Corsaletti grounded to second and hestruck out Tordi to end the inning.
The Hurricanes extended the lead back to four, 13-9, in the eighth., With oneout, San Pedro doubled to the left field corner. With two outs, Figueroasingled on a chopper to center field to score San Pedro for a 13-9 Miami lead.
In the Florida eighth, Valdes-Fauli retired the Gators in order. In theninth, UF’s Rose reached on a throwing error and moved to third on a wild pitch.Harrison grounded out to short and Rose scored on the fielder’s choice to makeit 13-10. With one out, Garza flied to center and Valdes-Fauli struck out Smithswinging to end the game.
CORAL GABLES REGIONAL ALL-REGIONAL TEAM
1B – Juan Figueroa, Bethune-Cookman
2B – Derek Hutton, Florida Atlantic
3B – Gaby Sanchez, Miami
SS – Ryan Braun, Miami
C – Brian Rose, Florida
OF – Steve Barton, Florida
OF – Brian Barton, Miami
OF – John Gragg, Bethune-Cookman
DH – Mario Garza, Florida
P – Randy Beam, Florida Atlantic
P – J.D. Cockroft, Miami
Most Outstanding Player – J.D. Cockroft, P, Miami
