Clemson Pulls Away Late To Defeat Miami 6-2
April 1, 2006
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (www.hurricanesports.com) – Miami gave up six unanswered runs and fell for the second straight night to the Clemson Tigers, 6-2, in front of 2,304 at Mark Light Field on Saturday. The Hurricanes dropped to 23-9 overall and 8-3 in the ACC, while Clemson improved to 19-7 overall and 5-3 in conference play.
Hurricanes starter Manny Miguelez (5-2) went seven-plus innings and allowed five runs on six hits with four strikeouts and two walks in the loss. Jason Berken (4-2) threw 124 pitches in 6.2 innings of work and gave up two unearned runs with seven strikeouts and three walks to earn the win for Clemson. Daniel Moskos struck out Yonder Alonso with the bases loaded in the ninth inning to earn his fourth save of the season.
Jon Jay led Miami at the plate, going 2-for-3 with two stolen bases, a run scored and an RBI. Andy D’Alessio homered twice and drove in three runs to lead Clemson.
Miami’s offense stalled after building a 2-0 lead by the third inning. The Hurricanes trailed by the end of the fifth and couldn’t catch up over the last third of the game, leaving a total of seven runners on base over the seventh, eighth and ninth innings. UM stranded a total of 10 runners in the game.
Two Clemson errors allowed the Hurricanes to grab a 1-0 lead in the first without the aid of a hit. Clemson catcher Adrian Casanova’s throw to second on Jay’s two-out steal attempt sailed into centerfield, allowing Jay to advance to third. Danny Valencia’s grounder to third would have been the third out of the inning, but Herman Demmink’s throw was off, allowing Valencia to reach base and Jay to score.
Miami went up 2-0 in the third with the help of another Clemson error. Blake Tekotte led off with a walk and advanced to second when Berken threw a pickoff attempt away. Tekotte went to third on Jemile Weeks’ sacrifice bunt and scored when Jay singled to right field.
Clemson cut the lead in half in the fourth with D’Alessio’s first home run of the game, a solo shot to right field.
The Tigers used three hits to take a 3-2 lead in the fifth inning. Stan Widmann singled and moved to third on a balk and Demmink’s groundout to third. Brad Chalk singled to drive home Widmann and scored from first on Taylor Harbin’s double down the third base line.
The Hurricanes missed a chance to tie the game in the bottom of the fifth. Weeks put himself in scoring position with a two-out double, but was caught at home trying to score on Jay’s second single of the game, ending the inning.
Clemson broke the game open in its half of the eighth scoring three runs. Tyler Colvin drove in Chalk with a sac fly to center and D’Alessio hit his second home run of the game, a two-run shot off Andrew Lane to put the Tigers up 6-2.
Moskos relieved David Kopp with two outs and the bases loaded in the ninth, and extinguished Miami’s last scoring threat, striking out the tying run to end the game.
UM and Clemson conclude their series on Sunday at 1 p.m.
###
