Hurricanes Come Up Short in Ninth, 5-4
March 24, 2004
CORAL GABLES, Fla. — The fifth-ranked Miami Hurricanes fell to Florida International, 5-4, on Wednesday night at Mark Light Field in front of 1,834 fans.
The loss drops the Hurricanes to 19-5 on the season and snaps a four-game winning streak. Florida International improves to 15-16 on the season.
Miami starter Vince Bongiovanni (2-2) lasted only seven batters and recorded only one out before exiting the game. He allowed four runs (three earned) on five hits and walked one. J.D. Cockroft came on in relief and kept the Hurricanes in the game with six strong innings, allowing only one run on seven hits and struck out five.
Frank Gonzalez picked up the win for FIU with 1.2 innings of relief after starter Ammer Cabrera left the game in the third inning due to injury. Danny Hernandez picked up his third save of the season with two innings of work.
Fernando Alvarez delivered the big blow in the first inning for FIU with a two-run double. Cody Jacobs and Jeff Skellenger also added RBI singles in the inning as FIU jumped out to a 4-0 lead.
Miami got on the board in the second inning with an RBI double by Gaby Sanchez. Ryan Braun had worked his way into scoring position by sealing second on a sleeping FIU infield and moved to third on a throwing error by the pitcher.
The Hurricanes pulled to within one run at 4-3 in the sixth inning on a RBI single by Adam Ricks and a RBI ground out by Erick San Pedro.
FIU added an insurance run in the seventh inning on a bloop single by Jacobs to take a 5-3 lead. Miami made things interesting in the eighth with two runners on and no outs, but could only muster a RBI single by Sanchez to make it 5-4.
Hernandez would come on to clean up the mess in the eighth and close the game out in the ninth inning.
The Hurricanes open a three-game series with Penn State at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 26, at Mark Light Field. The series with the Nittany Lions continues on Saturday, March 27, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, March 27, at 1 p.m.
