Hurricanes Fade Late In 4-1 Loss To Florida
Feb. 18, 2006
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (www.hurricanesports.com) – Miami received an outstanding performance from its starting pitcher for the second-straight game, and for the second-straight game the Hurricanes lost. The No. 16 Hurricanes’ offense was held to five hits and second-ranked Florida ensured itself of a series victory with a 4-1 win in front of a capacity crowd of 2,500 at Mark Light Field Saturday afternoon.
The Hurricanes fell to 6-5 on the season while Florida improved to 5-1.
UM starter Manny Miguelez (1-1) needed less than 100 pitches to set career highs with seven strikeouts and eight innings pitched. He gave up two runs, one earned, and five hits with one walk in his first loss of the season.
Miami’s pitching staff gave up just four hits (all singles) in a 2-1 series-opening loss on Friday, including 6.1 solid innings from staff ace Carlos Gutierrez.
The Miami offense mustered five hits against Florida starter Bryan Augenstein, who improved to 2-0, and went hitless against the Gator bullpen. Augenstein gave up one run, had one walk and struck out five in the win. Darren O’Day picked up his second save in as many days for the Gators, recording
Florida took a 1-0 lead in the second, capitalizing on shortstop Walter Diaz’s one-out error on Chris Woods’ ground ball. Adam Davis followed the error with a single to left to score Austin Pride from third base for the early lead.
UM’s Yonder Alonso tied the game in the fourth with a double to right-center on a 3-0 pitch from Augenstein to drive in Jon Jay from second base.
Miguelez continued to roll through the Gator lineup until the eighth inning. UF first baseman Matt LaPorta led off the eighth inning with his first home run of the year, putting a 1-0 pitch from Miguelez over the left field fence to give the Gators a 2-1 lead they would not relinquish.
Florida added two more runs in the ninth inning off UM reliever Chris Perez. Perez issued a one-out walk to David Cash and then gave up a double to Chris Woods to put runners at second an third. Cash scored on a wild pitch and Brian Leclerc doubled down the left field line to score Woods for the final 4-1 score.
O’Day was brought in after UF reliever Steven Porter walked Tommy Giles to start the ninth. Richard O’Brien popped up to third base and Diaz grounded into a 6-3 double play to end the game.
The series finale is scheduled to start at noon on Sunday with Miami’s Scott Maine making his season debut on the mound against Florida freshman J.K. LaCoste (1-0, 0.00 ERA).
Notes: Miguelez has now walked just two batters in 26.0 innings this season and leads the Hurricanes with 20 strikeouts… Danny Valencia’s 11-game hitting streaking ended (0-3)… Alonso increased his season-leading RBI total to 16, putting him on pace for 81 in the regular season and ahead of Ryan Braun’s freshman record of 76 in 2003… Alonso has also hit safely in the last nine games after going hitless in his first two collegiate games.
