On To Omaha!
June 13, 2006
OXFORD, Miss. (www.hurricanesports.com) – In a game filled with momentum swings, Danny Valencia provided the biggest one in the bottom of the seventh inning of Monday night’s Oxford Super Regional against Ole Miss at Swayze Field. Valencia capped a 7-RBI night with a grand slam that silenced most of the 7,864 Rebel fans in attendance and carried Miami to a 14-9 win and its 22nd College World Series berth.
Valencia’s grand slam ensured the Hurricanes and head coach Jim Morris of his 10th trip to Omaha in the last 13 years and helped Miami win its first Super Regional on the road in four tries.
Miami (41-22) moves on to meet Oregon State in the first round of the CWS on Saturday, June 17 at 7 p.m. ET at Rosenblatt Stadium. It will be the first-ever meeting between the two teams. The Beavers won the Corvallis Super Regional with a 15-0 defeat of Stanford on Sunday night.
The importance of Valencia’s slam shouldn’t get lost in translation. Miami held a 9-8 lead at the time, thanks to a two-out RBI single from Tommy Giles that scored Roger Tomas. The `Canes had closer Chris Perez on the mound. But there was reason to worry.
Ole Miss had come back from a six-run deficit to win the first game of the Super Regional and had erased deficits of 3-0, 6-3 and 8-7 earlier in the night.
Valencia’s home run gave Miami a 13-8 lead with Perez poised to close out the game. Jemile Weeks added a RBI single in the eighth for a 14-8 lead. Perez (4-1) gave up three consecutive hits to start the ninth, but yielded only one run on a groundout and ended the game on a called strike three to Logan Power.
The five-inning performance was the longest outing Perez had since starting against George Washington in February of last season. White (3-1) was charged with his first loss of the season and gave up six earned runs in 2.2 innings of work.
The top half of Miami’s lineup, Weeks, Giles, Jay and Valencia, went a combined 10-for-15 with 10 RBI and 11 runs scored on the night. Valencia hit a two-run homer in the first inning to go along with the grand slam and finished the night 3-for-3 with three runs scored. His seven RBI were the most by a Hurricane in the postseason since Kevin Brown knocked in 10 runs against Stetson in 2001.
Jay went 3-for-3 with four runs scored, Weeks walked twice and scored twice and Giles went 3-for-6 with two runs and a RBI.
Miami’s catalyst for the Super Regional, Weeks, was hit by a pitch on a full count to start the game and stole second on a called strike three to Giles. Jay followed with a bloop RBI-single to left-center to bring in Weeks for the first score of the game. Valencia put Miami up 3-0 with his two-run shot.
The Rebels answered in the top of the second when Mark Wright hit his second three-run home run of the series. Wright followed a pair of one-out walks issued to Power and Justin Brashear by smoking the first pitch he saw from starter Manny Miguelez over the left field fence.
Miami retook the lead with a three-run third, ending Ole Miss starter Lance Lynn’s night. Lynn hit Jay to start the inning and gave up a single to Valencia before walking Dennis Raben to load the bases. Yonder Alonso drew another walk to bring Jay for a 4-3 lead. Tomas followed with a sac fly to center. Rebel first baseman C.J. Ketchum booted the potential third out, a screaming grounder hit by Blake Tekotte. Raben scored on the play to give Miami the three-run lead.
Ole Miss responded with four runs in the fourth to take a 7-6 lead. The Hurricanes reclaimed the lead with two runs in the sixth on a pair of Rebel errors.
Chris Coghlan led off the seventh inning with a solo home run to knot the game up at 8-8.
