Hurricanes Meet Top-Seeded FSU in ACC Tournament Friday
May 25, 2007
NO. 1 SEED FLORIDA STATE (47-9)
vs. NO. 5 SEED MIAMI (35-21)
2007 ACC TOURNAMENT
May 25, 2007
Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville
Radio: WVUM (90.5 FM), WQAM (1360 AM)
WRHC (1550 AM)
TV: FSN Florida
Probable Starting Pitcher
UM: 17 Eric Erickson, LHP (9-3, 1.85 ERA)
FSU: 14 Ryan Strauss, RHP (9-2, 3.33 ERA)
FIFTH-SEEDED HURRICANES MEET TOP-SEEDED FLORIDA STATE IN ACC TOURNAMENT
No. 5 seed Miami faces No. 1 seed Florida State at 7 p.m., in the first ever meeting between the two teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament. Miami is coming off a 13-inning, 5-4 loss to No. 4 seed Clemson Wednesday night. FSU defeated No. 8 seed Wake Forest, 11-2, in its tournament opener. The game will be broadcasted on the radio by WVUM (90.5 FM), WQAM (1360 AM) and WRHC (1550 AM). FSN Florida will televise the game in North Florida due to the Marlins game being shown in South Florida. DirectTV Channels 635 and 665, Dish Network, FSN South, Comcast Sportsnet Mid-Atlantic are carrying the games.
ACC TOURNAMENT RECAP
Clemson’s Alex Lee’s suicide squeeze scored the game-winner with the bases loaded as the fourth-seeded Tigers rallied with two runs in the bottom of the 13th inning to edge No. 5 seed Miami, 5-4, Wednesday evening in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament opener. Roger Tomas, Yonder Alonso, Mark Sobolewski and Jemile Weeks each had two hits for the Hurricanes, who fell to 35-21. Scott Maine (5-5) started for Miami and allowed two earned runs in 6 2/3 innings. He allowed eight hits and struck out four. John Housey tossed 1 1/3 innings. He suffered his third loss as he allowed two earned runs on two hits. Clemson’s Alan Farina improved to 5-3. He tossed 3 2/3 innings in relief, gave up one hit and struck out six. Daniel Moskos tossed 7 2/3 innings while giving up eight hits and three earned runs. Marquez Smith, J.D. Burgess and Andy D’Alessio all had two hits for the Tigers. Burgess chopped a single down the right field line which scored Paul Hogan tying the game, 4-4. Clemson then loaded the bases before Lee laid down a perfect bunt single down the third base line which scored Johnson for the game-winner. Miami took a 4-3 lead in the top of the 13th when Alonso hit a sacrifice fly to score Tomas, who single, reached second on a throwing error and third on a passed ball. Alonso flied out to center field for his 73rd RBI of the season.
ABOUT THE HURRICANES
Miami is 9-2 in its last 11 games but continues to pitch and hit well. The Hurricanes are hitting .322 as a team led by first baseman Yonder Alonso, who is batting .486 with 13 runs, 18 hits, eight doubles, four home runs and a team-high 22 RBIs. He’s slugging 1.027. Senior third baseman Roger Tomas has a team-high 20 hits in the last 11 games while hitting .455. Sophomore leadoff hitter Blake Tekotte also has a hot bat. He’s batting .405 with six doubles, 17 hits and owns a .519 on-base percentage from his lead-off spot. On the season, Alonso leads the team hitting .378 with an ACC-best 73 RBIs and 18 home runs. Miami’s starting pitching rotation of Scott Maine, Eric Erickson and Enrique Garcia has allowed 15 earned runs in their last 74.1 innings. Erickson is 4-0 with a1.01 ERA in his last five starts. He has wins over Florida State, Wake Forest, Duke and Wright State.
ALONSO NAMED TO THE BROOKS WALLACE AWARD WATCH LIST
Sophomore first baseman Yonder Alonso is now one of 30 players remaining in the hunt for the Brooks Wallace Player of the Year award. The Wallace Award is presented annually to the nation’s top collegiate baseball player and will be televised nationally by Fox College Sports. The only award to encompass the first pitch of the college season to the final out in Omaha, past winners include Kurt Suzuki of Cal State Fullerton in 2004, Alex Gordon of Nebraska in 2005 and pitcher/designated hitter Brad Lincoln of Houston in 2006. The 2007 award banquet will be held Tuesday, July 3, at 7 p.m. in the United Spirit Arena on the campus of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. The selection committee will narrow the list to 20 quarterfinalists on May 30 and will be reduced again to ten semifinalists following the NCAA Regionals. The three finalists will be announced during the College World Series. The three finalists will be accompanied by their parents and head coaches and will participate in activities with the 2007 Hall of Fame Inductees as part of the Wallace Award and Hall of Fame festivities in Lubbock on July 2-4. The winner will be permanently recognized in the new College Baseball Hall of Fame. The Wallace Award is a dedication to the memory of the former Texas Tech player and assistant coach Brooks Wallace.
GIL APPROACHING SCHOOL RECORD IN APPEARANCES
Senior closer Danny Gil appeared in his 31st game of the season against Clemson in the ACC Tournament opener and raised his career total in appearances to 120 games. He needs four more appearances to set a new Hurricanes’ record. Danny Smith (1980-83) and George Huguet (2001-04) are tied for the school with 123 career appearances.
LAST TIME AGAINST FLORIDA STATE
Game 1 – FSU 7, Miami 6 – Florida State (38-6, 16-3 ACC) hit back-to-back home runs in the top of ninth and scored four runs to rally to defeat Miami, 7-6, in front of a sellout crowd of 2,763 fans at Mark Light Field Friday night in the Atlantic Coast Conference series opener. Yonder Alonso hit two home runs for Miami (26-18, 11-11 ACC) while Roger Tomas finished 3-for-4 with two runs scored. Scott Maine (3-5) held the Seminoles to three runs on eight hits in 7 2/3 innings while striking out four. Dennis Raben pitched 1/3 of an inning, but allowed three earned runs and the two home runs in the ninth. Alonso went 2-for4 with two runs and four RBI. Blake Tekotte, Mark Sobolewski, Gus Menendez and Richard O’Brien each contributed one hit for the Hurricanes, who had nine hits. Tony Thomas Jr., Travis Anderson, Jason Stidham and Ruairi O’Connor each had two hits for the Seminoles. Bryan Henry (11-0) tossed eight innings and allowed six earned runs while striking out seven. He ended up with his 11th win of the season. Danny Rosen earned his eighth save as he pitched one scoreless inning. Trailing 7-6, Gus Menendez led off the bottom of the ninth with a single down the right field line. After a sacrifice bunt put him in scoring position, Rosen was able to get pinch-hitter Chris Petralli and center fielder Blake Tekotte to fly out to end the game. Miami led 6-3 heading into the top of the ninth. Mark Gildea drew a leadoff walk. Raben relieved Danny Gil. D’Vontrey Richardson hit a ball that dropped in just inside the right field line for a double. Gildea scored on a passed ball to make it, 6-4. With one out, Thomas Jr. then hit a two-run home run that tied the game, 6-6. Mark Hallberg followed with a solo home run putting FSU ahead, 7-6.
Game 2 – FSU 13, Miami 8 – Freshman left fielder Mark Sobolewski tied the Miami freshman record extending his hitting streak to 16 games, but Florida State’s Buster Posey drove in seven runs as the No. 1 Seminoles knocked off the Hurricanes, 13-8, Saturday night in front of a sellout crowd of 3,000 fans at Mark Light Field. Blake Tekotte and Roger Tomas each contributed two hits for the Hurricanes (26-19, 11-12 ACC). Posey ended up 3-for-6 with seven RBI including a grand slam that gave the Seminoles a five-run lead in the sixth inning. Jason Stidham went 3-for-5 with a pair runs for Florida State, who improved to 39-6 and 17-3 in the ACC. Enrique Garcia fell to 4-3 allowing six earned runs. He walked five, struck out seven and scattered five hits in 5 1/3 innings. FSU’s Brian Chambers (3-0) won his third game in relief as he held UM to one earned run on three hits in 3 2/3 innings. Matt Fairel tossed 3 1/3 innings and registered a save. Florida State pulled away on Posey’s grand slam in the top of the sixth. After three straight walks were issued to Florida State hitters, Posey hit a grand slam to right center giving the Seminoles a 9-4 lead.
Game 3 – Miami 7, FSU 1 – Freshman lefty Eric Erickson tossed six solid innings in registering his sixth win as Miami won the series finale over No. 1 Florida State, 7-1, Sunday afternoon in front of another sellout crowd of 3,000 at Mark Light Field. Dennis Raben went 3-for-3 with two RBI while Blake Tekotte, Jemile Weeks and Mark Sobolewski each had two hits for Miami (27-19, 12-12 ACC). Sobolewski broke the Miami freshman hitting streak record as he hit safely in his 17th straight game breaking the 16-game hitting streak mark set by Jim Maler in 1977 and tied by Jemile Weeks in 2006. Erickson (6-3) limited the Seminoles (39-7, 17-4 ACC) to one run on six hits and struck out three. David Gutierrez and Danny Gil combined to throw the final three scoreless innings. Roger Tomas, Yonder Alonso and Ryan Jackson each added one hit as UM out-hit the Seminoles, 12-8. Danny Rosen took the loss for FSU as he gave up four runs, three earned, on five hits in four innings. He walked four and struck out three. Tony Thomas Jr. led the Seminoles going 2-for-3 with one run scored.
MIAMI-FLORIDA STATE SERIES
Florida State leads the all-time series with Miami, 131-114-4. Miami has won nine of the last 13 meetings. Florida State won its first series since the 2003 series over the Hurricanes at the end of April.
