Hurricanes Sweep Hokies with 10-4 Win
March 12, 2006
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (www.hurricanesports.com) – Miami (15-6, 3-0 ACC) continued its hot streak on Sunday at Mark Light Field, winning its 10th game in a row to sweep Virginia Tech in its first Atlantic Coast Conference series of the season with a 10-4 win. Virginia Tech dropped to 7-7, 0-3 ACC on the season with the loss.
The sweep not only gave Miami its longest winning streak since the 2004 season, but left Miami in the company of Florida State and North Carolina State as the only teams to not lose a conference game on the first full weekend of conference competition.
UM scored double-digit runs against Virginia Tech in all three wins, marking the first time since the 2003 season that Miami scored 10 or more runs against the same team in a three-game series. Jon Jay doubled and scored twice for UM. Blake Tekotte, Eddy Rodriguez, Walter Diaz and Roger Tomas all joined Jay with two hits to lead Miami’s 14-hit attack.
Scott Maine (3-0, 3.65 ERA) got his third win in four starts this season, throwing six solid innings and giving up three runs while striking out a career-high six batters. Closer Chris Perez struck out three batters in 1.1 innings of relief work. Nicky Bowers (1-2) was charged with the loss for Virginia Tech, giving up eight earned runs on 11 hits in 5.1 innings of work.
Miami jumped out to an early lead, capitalizing on a leadoff double by Blake Tekotte in the first inning. Jay doubled Tekotte in to make the score 1-0. Tommy Giles’ double drove Jay in to put the `Canes up 2-0 at the end of the first. They added one more in the bottom of the third when Jemile Weeks scored on a passed ball to take a 3-0 lead.
The Hokies battled back in the top of the fourth with some power. Back-to-back home runs by Billy Marn and Jose Rojas to lead off the inning brought the Hokies within 3-2. Virginia Tech pulled even in the sixth when Marn tripled to lead off the inning and scored on a throwing error by Rodriguez to make it 3-3.
A prosperous sixth inning snapped a tie and put the `Canes ahead for good. Miami was able to score five runs on six hits to put the game out of reach at 8-3. Yonder Alonso drove in Jay, who led the inning off with his second double of the day. Rodriguez singled in Alonso and moved to third on Dennis Raben’s double. Diaz singled to score Rodriguez and Raben and was driven home on Tomas’ single after he stole second.
The sixth inning proved to be a decisive one for the third time in the series. In addition to Miami’s five runs in Sunday’s sixth, the Hurricanes netted seven runs in Saturday’s sixth in a 12-3 win and Friday’s game-winning runs were also scored in the Hurricane sixth.
Virginia Tech had the long ball working again in the seventh when Bryan Thomas hit a solo shot off UM reliever Danny Gil, trying to spark a Hokie comeback. It was the first hit Gil had allowed in his last seven-plus innings of relief. Gil recovered to strike out the next two batters to end the Hokie comeback bid with the score at 8-4.
The `Canes added two insurance runs in the eighth inning for the final 10-4 score.
The `Canes see action again on Tuesday, March 14, against Fordham at 7 p.m., and on Wednesday, March 15 against Manhattan at 7 p.m. at Mark Light Field to close out its 16-game home stand. Miami then heads to the road for a three-game series at Duke.
Notes: Miami has not allowed more than four runs in any game of the 10-game winning streak … no Miami starter has allowed more than three earned runs in any start this season … Rodriguez, Weeks and Diaz all hit above .500 in the series … Rodriguez led the way with a .583 average, a home run, double and four RBI, Weeks hit .556 (5-for-9) with his first career home run, four RBI and five walks … Diaz batted .545 with four RBI and stole his first two bases of the season, including home in the eighth inning on Sunday … Alonso batted in eight runs and ran his season total to 31, putting him on pace for 78 this season, two ahead of Ryan Braun’s 2003 UM freshman record of 76 (62 games).
