Hernandez, No. 1 Seed Miami Tops No. 8 Seed Clemson, 7-1
May 21, 2008
Jacksonville, Fla. – Mark Sobolewski doubled home two runs in the first inning to give starting pitcher Chris Hernandez all the run support he would need as top-seeded Miami beat Clemson 7-1 Wednesday in the Atlantic Coast Conference baseball tournament, at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville.
Hernandez (11-0), the ACC leader in victories and winning percentage, faced the minimum number of batters over the first five and one-thirds innings and went on to strike out 10 and allow four hits and no walks in eight scoreless innings. He has a streak of 27 two-thirds innings without allowing a base on balls.
Hernandez benefited from three double plays, two which erased the only base runners Clemson managed through five innings.The Hurricanes (44-8) will face fifth-seeded Georgia Tech in a Division A round-robin game at 5 p.m. Thursday. Clemson (30-26-1), seeded eighth in the tournament, will play No. 4 North Carolina State at 8 p.m. Tech defeated N.C. State 10-9 in the tournament opener.Sobolewski’s double in the first drove in Jemile Weeks and Yonder Alonso, who had both drawn one-out walks off Clemson starter D.J. Mitchell (6-5). Sobolewski then scored on Ryan Jackson’s single.
Catcher Yasmani Grandal hit a solo homer in the second inning, his fourth of the year. After that, Mitchell settled down and struck out 11 batters in six innings, a record for the tournament since it moved to Jacksonville in 2004 and the most for a Clemson pitcher since 2003. He leads the ACC with 106 strikeouts.
However, the Hurricanes roughed him up for three more runs in his final inning, two of them on a double by pinch hitter Joey Terdoslavich. Blake Tekotte then singled Terdoslavich home.
Clemson scored its only run in the top of the ninth on an RBI fielder’s-choice grounder by Kyle Parker, a freshman who went to high school in the suburbs of Jacksonville. It was Parker’s 50th RBI of the season.
Game Notes
– Miami turned its third double play of the game in the top of the seventh, which was the fourth time that Hurricanes have had three double plays in a game.
– Freshman lefty Chris Hernandez stayed perfect on the season improving to 11-0 and lowering his ERA to 2.44. He struck out at least 10 batters for the second time this season and has not walked a batter in the last 27 2/3 innings over four starts.
– Freshman catcher Yasmani Catcher homered for the second time this season against the Tigers. In four meetings with Clemson, he has hit .500 (6-for-12) with five RBI and two homers.
– Wednesday’s win marked the first time Miami won its ACC Tournament opener. UM was 0-3 in the first game of the Championship since joining the league in 2005.
– Freshman Joey Terdoslavich’s pinch-hit double in the sixth was his seventh double of the season.
– Sophomore third baseman Mark Sobolewski hit his 12th double of the season in the first inning.
– The Hurricanes won all four meetings against the Tigers this season and have won six of the last eight meetings with Clemson.
TV/Radio Notes for Thursday:
– Miami will face No. 5 seed Georgia Tech at 5 p.m. Thursday. The game will be televised live on SunSports. Radio: WVUM (560 AM) – game joined in progress at 7 p.m.; WVUM (90.5 FM); Spanish Radio WWWK (102.5 FM) and WPIK (104.5 FM); Internet Radio: www.wqam.com/www.hurricanesports.com/www.wvum.org.
