May 19, 2007
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – – Sophomore first baseman Yonder Alonso and senior third baseman Roger Tomas each collected four hits and Miami exploded for nine runs in the bottom of the third inning as the Hurricanes completed a three-game sweep of Duke, 14-5, Saturday afternoon in the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season finale. Alonso grabbed six RBI in the process, which included a five-RBI third inning, for the Hurricanes (35-20, 17-13 ACC) who earned the fifth seed in next week’s ACC Tournament. Miami has now won nine of its last 10 games.
Jemile Weeks went 2-for-4 with a pair of runs scored for Miami. Dave DiNatale and Richard O’Brien each had one hit and two RBI. Enrique Garcia ran his record to 7-3 as he allowed four earned runs – all in the first inning – in five innings. John Housey, Kyle Bellamy and Danny Gil combined to throw four scoreless innings.
Jonathan Anderson, Nate Freiman, Brett Bartles and Gabriel Saade all had two hits for the Blue Devils (29-25, 8-22 ACC). Duke’s Alex Hassan dropped his sixth decision. Hassan gave up eight runs, five earned, on six hits and walked three.
Trailing 4-1 in the bottom of the third, Alonso drove in five runs in the inning putting the Hurricanes ahead for good and sparking a nine-run inning. Blake Tekotte led off with a walk just before Tomas laced a single through the right side. Alonso followed with his 18th home run which carried down the right field line tying the game, 4-4. Dennis Raben then walked and moved to second on Weeks’ base-hit. Mark Sobolewski’s sacrifice bunt created a Duke error allowing Raben to score for a 5-4 lead. A Gus Menendez groundout made it, 6-4. O’Brien doubled in a run to make it, 7-4. Tomas drove in O’Brien giving Miami an 8-4 lead. Alonso then hit a two-run double down the right field line to make it, 10-4.
Miami tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the fourth as Weeks and Sobolewski started off with a single and a double. O’Brien’s fielder’s choice allowed Weeks to score for an 11-4 lead. DiNatale’s RBI groundout scored Sobolewski for a 12-4 advantage.
Duke cut it to, 12-5, on a fielding error which scored Freiman, who reached base on a double.
Raben’s sacrifice fly brought in a run in the bottom of the fifth pushing the score to 13-5. DiNatale’s solo home run to left field in the bottom of the sixth put Miami ahead, 14-5.
The Hurricanes return to action Wednesday in the first round of the ACC Tournament. Miami is the No. 5 seed at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville (Fla.). Both the opponent and game time will be announced on Sunday.
Series Notes: Miami hit .340 as a team while the pitching staff had a 2.67 ERA in the Duke series … Sophomore first baseman Yonder Alonso hit .636 (7-for-11) against the Blue Devils matching a career-best with a 4-for-5, six RBI performance in the finale. He added four doubles, four runs, one home run and nine RBI in the series … Senior Roger Tomas hit .538 (7-for-13) with four runs, one double, one home run and two RBI in the series. He went 4-for-6 with three runs and one RBI in the series finale … Freshman left fielder Mark Sobolewski went 5-for-12 with three runs … Freshman lefty Eric Erickson won his ninth game as he held Duke to one earned run in 7 2/3 innings in the second game of the series … Miami collected 33 hits for the second straight weekend in ACC play … UM is hitting .333 in its last 10 games while going 9-1 led by Yonder Alonso who is hitting .485 with seven doubles, four home runs and 21 RBI. Roger Tomas has a team-high 18 hits while batting .474 during the stretch which also includes two doubles, one home run and seven RBI. Sophomore center fielder Blake Tekotte also is hot while hitting .432 in the last 10 games. He has 16 hits, five doubles, one triple and a home run … Also, UM’s pitching staff is 9-1 with a 3.04 ERA led by its three starters. Eric Erickson is 4-0 with a 1.01 ERA. Scott Maine has gone 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA, striking out 17 in his last 20 innings. Opponents are hitting only .186 off of Maine. Enrique Garcia is 3-0 with a 2.57 ERA as he has struck out 17 in 21 innings.