Hurricanes Drop Series Finale at No. 4 Long Beach State, 7-3
May 24, 2003
LONG BEACH, Calif. – Fourth-ranked Long Beach State snapped Miami’s six-game winning streak, 7-3, behind an impressive performance from the Dirtbags’ right-handed starting pitcher Jered Weaver in front of 1,567 at Blair Field.
The Hurricanes lost their first game of the series despite a three-run ninth-inning rally. After winning the first two games against the Dirtbags, Miami heads into postseason play with a 39-14-1 record. Long Beach State snaps a four-game losing skid to improve to 38-18.
Vince Bongiovanni (6-4) took the loss for the Hurricanes, surrendering four runs on seven Dirtbag hits in four innings. Weaver improved to 13-3 on the season with seven innings of work, allowing only two hits, striking out eight and walking only two. Weaver, the preseason All-American, retired the final 13 Miami hitters before giving way to Cesar Ramos in the eighth inning.
Hurricanes’ hitter managed five hits on the day with coming from leadoff hitter Danny Figueroa. He lined a single into left-center field in the first inning and bunted for a single in the third inning.
The ninth inning rally was sparked by a one-out two-RBI double by Gaby Sanchez. Joey Hooft followed with an infield hit and Greg Dini then singled in Sanchez to close the Dirtbag lead to 7-3. Richard Giannotti grounded into a double play to end the game.
A RBI ground out off the bat of Mike Hofius scored Troy Tulowitzui, who had tripled with one out to give the Dirtbags a 1-0 lead.
Long Beach State extended the lead to 3-0 in the fourth inning with a two-RBI double off the bat of left-handed hitter Travis Udvarhelyi. Udvarhelyi got his first start of the series against the right-hander Bongiovanni. Tim Hutting extended the lead to 4-0 with an RBI single, scoring Udvarhelyi.
Alex Perez came on in relief of Bongiovanni in the fifth inning and allowed five consecutive Dirtbags to reach base on three hits as Long Beach State pushed the lead to 7-0. Perez lasted only two-thirds of an inning, hitting one batter and walking one before being replaced by Alex Blanco.
Miami returns to Coral Gables tonight to await word on hosting a regional next weekend. The regional sites will be announced on Sunday between 3 and 3:20 p.m. on ESPN. The NCAA Baseball Selection Show will be televised by ESPN2 on Monday at 12:30 p.m. NCAA Regionals will get underway on Friday, May 30th, at 16 sites across the country.
