Hagerty's Walk-Off Blast Wins it for No. 8 Miami, 7-6
March 6, 2009
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Down one with a runner on and two outs in the bottom of the 12th inning, junior Jason Hagerty blasted a 1-0 pitch deep over the fence in right-center to give No. 8 Miami a series-opening 7-6 win over NC State Friday night in front of 2,503 fans at Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field.
After NC State took a 6-5 lead in the top half of the 12th inning, Wolfpack reliever Kyle Rutter quickly retired UM’s first two batters to the put Miami on the ropes. Junior Ryan Jackson then came up, worked the count full before drawing a walk, setting up Hagerty’s game-winner two pitches later.
With the win, Miami improves to 8-2 overall and 4-1 all-time in Atlantic Coast Conference openers. NC State drops to 7-3 overall and 0-1 in league play.
Kyle Bellamy (1-0) earned the win, allowing no earned runs on three hits while striking out six in three innings of work. He tied his career-high for both innings pitched and strikeouts, picking up his first victory of the 2009 season.
Hagerty finished the game 2-for-6, also hitting a double that set up a crucial two-run single by freshman Harold Martinez in the eighth. Martinez also finished with a pair of hits, going 2-for-5 with two RBI and a runs scored. Nathan Melendres, who hit safely in his 10th straight game to open his UM career, also had two RBI on the night.
Chris Hernandez started for the `Canes and allowed three runs on five hits while walking three and striking out eight in six innings. Travis Miller came on and allowed two runs on just one hit in three innings before he gave way to Bellamy.
Despite only allowing one hit in his three innings of relief work, Rutter suffered the loss to drop his season mark to 1-1. NC State starter Jimmy Gillheeney went seven innings and allowed just two runs on three hits while walking four and striking out a career-high tying nine.
The game reached extra innings after Miami plated a run in the ninth to tie it up at 5-5. Chris Herrmann led off with a walk, reached second on a wild pitch, third on a ground out and finally another wild pitch brought him home from third.
Miami opened the night’s scoring with a pair of runs in second. With two outs and the bases loaded, Melendres singled through the left side, scoring Martinez and Dave DiNatale to give UM the early advantage.
The Wolfpack cut the UM lead to 2-1 when a Chris Schaeffer sacrifice fly plated Devon Cartwright in the fifth.
NC State took its first lead in the sixth, scoring two runs to go up 3-2. The first run came across on a UM throwing error before the go-ahead run came on a Harold Riggins RBI single to right-center.
Two more runs came across in the seventh for NC State when pinch-hitter Wade Moore hit a two-run homer to right, pushing the Wolfpack’s lead to 5-2.
The Hurricanes got two runs back in the eighth to cut the NC State lead to just one run late. With Jackson on first and two outs on the board, Hagerty’s doubled to right-center put runners on second and third for Martinez.
Game two of the three-game set will be played Saturday night at 7 p.m. Junior right-hander David Gutierrez is slated to go for the Hurricanes while senior right-hander Jake Buchanan is slated to go for NC State.
Postgame Notes
– Friday’s game was Miami’s first extra-innings contest of the season.
– Miami’s last walk-off win on a home run came on April 8, 2008 when Dave DiNatale hit an 11th-inning shot to beat Florida Gulf Coast, 4-2 in Coral Gables. The last walk-off homer in extra innings came on April 7, 2007 versus Georgia Tech when Mark Sobolewski hit a three-run shot to win it for the `Canes, 5-2.
– Junior Kyle Bellamy tied a career-high for innings pitched (3.0) and strikeouts (6).
– Freshman Nathan Melendres extended his team-best hitting streak to 10 straight games to open his UM career.
– With NC State’s run in the fifth, it snapped UM’s streak of 20 straight innings without allowing an earned run.
– Attendance at Friday night’s series opener was 2,503.
– Junior Jason Hagerty’s walk-off winner was his team-leading third homer of the season.
– The win marked Miami’s fourth in five ACC opening games all-time.
