Hurricanes Defeat Wake Forest 4-1 To Advance In ACC Tournament
May 25, 2006
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (www.hurricanesports.com) – Miami needed a clutch pitching performance to stay alive in the ACC Tournament and it got one from sophomore lefty Manny Miguelez on Thursday afternoon. Miguelez used one of his best performances of the season to lead the Hurricanes to a 4-1 win against Wake Forest at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville and keep UM’s ACC title hopes alive.
With the win, Miami (36-20) advances in the tournament and will play the loser of tonight’s Georgia Tech-Clemson game on Friday at 7 p.m. Wake Forest (33-21) was eliminated from the tournament with the loss.
Miami was facing elimination for the second-consecutive year and possibly wearing out its bullpen in a taxing tournament format without a good performance from Miguelez. Miguelez (7-4) eliminated both scenarios by going 7.0 innings and giving up four hits, one earned run, a walk and four strikeouts in his longest outing since April 1. It was also his first win against an ACC opponent since March 18.
“Manny has good enough stuff to beat anybody in the country,” head coach Jim Morris said. “He got ahead of hitters, he didn’t hurt himself by walking guys and he pitched very well. He was able to get three or four pitches over the plate. When he does that and throws strikes with his stuff, then he’s got a chance to beat anyone, and he did that today. It was huge for us.”
Chris Perez came on to pitch the final two innings to earn his 12th save of the season.
Wake Forest starter Justin Keadle (5-4) went 5.0 innings and gave up five hits and two earned runs with three walks and four strikeouts in the loss.
Jon Jay went 3-for-3 with a double, home run and two runs scored to lead Miami’s offensive effort. Dennis Raben went 3-for-4 with a RBI, Tommy Giles homered and Roger Tomas provided a late-inning RBI to complement a superb defensive performance at shortstop.
Giles got Miami on the board in the first with a solo shot to right off Keadle on a one out, 1-1 pitch.
Jay doubled Miami’s lead in the fourth, belting a 2-1 pitch out to left-center for his fifth home run of the season.
Raben singled off reliever Brad Kledzik to leadoff the Hurricane sixth, and moved into scoring position on Eddy Rodriguez’s sacrifice bunt. Tomas hit a two-out single up the middle to score Raben for a 3-0 lead.
Andy Goff led off the Demon Deacon sixth with a double to left-center and moved to third on a one-out wild pitch. Brett Linnenkohl hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Goff and cut the Hurricanes’ lead to 3-1.
Jay led off the eighth with his third hit of the day, a double to left off All-ACC closer Ben Hunter. Raben hit a one-out single to left to bring Jay for the final 4-1 lead.
Perez gave up consecutive singles to Matt Antonelli and Goff in the eighth, and loaded the bases with a two-out walk to Brendan Enick. Evan Ocheltree chopped what looked to be a RBI single up the middle, but Tomas made an outstanding play to snare the ball and tag second to end the inning.
“I don’t know if it looked easy or not, but that was a tough play,” Morris said. “(Tomas) made it look like it wasn’t.”
The Demon Deacons were retired in order in the ninth to ensure Miami’s first ACC Tournament win.
Notes: Jon Jay’s first-inning single was the 235th hit of his career, tying him with Frank Dominguez (1985-88) … his home run in the fourth inning moved him past Dominguez and into a tie for ninth place on the all-time list with Mitch Seoane (1981-83) … the four runs were the most-ever scored by the Hurricanes in an ACC Tournament game … Perez moved past Danny Smith (1980-83) into sixth place on the all-time saves list with 20 for his career … Perez also moved into a tie with Robbie Morrison (1998) for eighth on the single-season saves list.
