Hurricanes Complete Series Sweep Of Duke With 6-1 Win
March 13, 2005
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (www.hurricanesports.com) – Miami sophomore pitcher Ricky Orta picked up his second victory in five days and pitched six and two-thirds innings of scoreless ball in a 6-1 win against Duke in front of 2,619 at Mark Light Field Sunday afternoon. The Hurricanes (17-4, 5-1 ACC) completed their first-ever sweep of an ACC opponent with the win. Duke dropped to 6-14 overall and 0-6 in the ACC with the loss.
Orta, who pitched six scoreless innings in a 3-0 win against Pittsburgh on Tuesday, struck out a career-high seven batters and gave up only three hits to move his record to 4-1 this season. He pitched a combined 12 and two-thirds scoreless innings and gave up five hits in his two starts this past week.
Duke starter Danny Otero gave up five runs on 10 hits in seven innings and was charged with the loss.
Sophomore shortstop Roger Tomas, who missed the first two games of the Duke series with illness, went 3-4 with a double, two singles and three RBIs to lead Miami’s 11-hit offensive performance. Danny and Paco Figuero both went 2-4 with one run batted in.
Miami had its scoring chances in the first, but Paco Figueroa was thrown out at the plate on a double-steal attempt and Ryan Braun was tagged out when he tried to take home on a Duke throwing error.
The Hurricanes didn’t let their second scoring chance pass them by. Tomas led off the third with a single to left and advanced to second on Eddy Rodriguez’s sacrifice bunt. Danny Figueroa drove in Tomas with his second double of the game and scored on Braun’s single for a 2-0 Miami lead heading into the fourth.
Tomas doubled in a run in the fourth and a single by Paco Firgueroa in the seventh scored Rodriguez for a 4-0 lead. Socorro knocked in Duke’s only run of the game off UM junior reliever Andrew Lane in the eighth inning. Tomas gave the Hurricanes some breathing room in the Miami eighth with a two-run single that scored Danny Valencia and Brendan Katin for the final 6-1 score.
Sophomore Danny Gil finished the game for Miami with a scoreless ninth inning.
Miami returns to action Wednesday, March 16 against Rutgers at Mark Light Field. The game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. and will be televised on Comcast Sports Southeast.
Notes: Miami starting pitchers Cesar Carrillo, Dan Touchet and Orta threw a combined 18 and two-thirds innings, gave up 15 hits, no earned runs and had 17 strikeouts in the three-game series… Left fielder Jon Jay went 0-4 to stop his hitting streak at 17 games… The Hurricanes improved to 8-2 all-time against Duke and have won their last eight meetings with the Blue Devils.
