Hurricanes Hold On To Take Georgia Tech In Series Opener, 8-7
May 18, 2006
ATLANTA – (www.hurricanesports.com) – Miami built a 6-0 lead and held off No. 8 Georgia Tech to win its series opener, 8-7, Thursday night at Russ Chandler Stadium. The No. 16 Hurricanes improved to 35-17 overall and 17-11 in the Coastal Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference with the win.
Scott Maine (10-2) won his fourth consecutive start, giving up five earned runs on seven in 5.2 innings with four strikeouts and three walks. Chris Perez threw 2.1 innings of relief for the Hurricanes to earn his 11th save of the season. Blake Wood (8-4) gave up a career-high eight earned runs on 11 hits with two walks and a strikeout for the Yellow Jackets (40-14, 17-11 ACC).
Tommy Giles and Roger Tomas both had three hits to lead the Hurricanes’ 14-hit attack. Dennis Raben homered and Jon Jay and Danny Valencia drove in two runs apiece for Miami.Valencia extended his hitting streak to 13 games, while Tomas collected his fourth three-hit game in his 10-game hitting streak.
The Hurricanes grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first thanks to some hustle by Jemile Weeks. Weeks led off the game with an infield single, beating out shortstop Michael Fisher’s throw at first. Giles walked and Jay laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance both runners. Valencia grounded out to shortstop to score Weeks for the first run of the game.
Two more runs in the second pushed Miami’s lead to 3-0. Eddy Rodriguez and Raben led off the inning with consecutive singles to put runners at the corners. Richard O’Brien Jr. brought Rodriguez in with a sac fly to right. Tomas singled to put runners at first and second, and Giles hit a two-out bloop single to left that brought in Raben.
Raben belted a 2-2 pitch from Wood deep to right field to lead off the fourth inning for a 4-0 Miami lead. Jay pushed the lead to 6-0 with a two-run double to center on a 3-2 count that scored Tomas and Giles.
Georgia Tech cut into the lead in the fifth on a one-out two-run home run from Matt Trapani.
Tech brought itself within one with a three-run sixth. Whit Robbins reached on an infield single and scored on Luke Morton’s double to center. Wally Crancer followed with another double to bring in Morton and trim Miami’s lead to 6-4. Maine retired Fisher on a fly ball to center that moved up Crancer. Danny Gil spelled Maine with Trapani coming to the plate. Gil’s second pitch was wild, allowing Crancer to cross the plate and put the score at 6-5.
Giles led off the seventh with a double to left center. Jay followed with a bunt single, ending Wood’s night in favor of Brad Rulon. Valencia singled on Rulon’s first pitch, scoring Giles from third. Jay stole third and scored on Yonder Alonso’s slow grounder to second, putting Miami up 8-5.
The Yellow Jackets threatened to rally again in the seventh, with Gil walking Matt Wieters and Wes Hodges to put men on first and second with one out. Andrew Lane came on to retire Whit Robbins and Perez ended the inning by striking out Murton, looking.
Perez let in two runs in the eighth, issuing three walks, including one with the bases loaded to Wieters. Jeff Kindel followed Wieters’ walk by grounding out to shortstop to score Fisher and bring Georgia Tech within 8-7.
It was as close as Perez would let Georgia Tech get, striking out the side in the ninth to secure the win.
Miami and Georgia Tech continue the series on Friday with a 7 p.m. first pitch. The game will be televised on FSN South and can be heard on the Student Voice of UM, WVUM 90.5 FM.
Notes: Jay’s sac bunt in the first inning was his eighth sacrifice hit of the season, surpassing his previous career high of seven, set in 2004 … Perez’s save was the 19th of his career, tying him with Danny Smith (1980-83) for sixth on Miami’s all-time list … Perez also moved into a tie with Mike Browning (1981) for ninth on the single-season saves list … Jay tied Bobby Hill’s (1997) hit by pitch record when he was plugged for the 20th time this season in the eighth inning.
