Hagerty's Ninth-Inning Blast Wins it for No. 6 Miami, 7-6
March 15, 2009
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Jason Hagerty broke a 6-6 tie in the bottom of the ninth with his second walk-off homer in the last 10 days to give the sixth-ranked University of Miami baseball team a 7-6 series-clinching win over Duke Sunday afternoon at Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field.
The win for Miami (14-3, 5-1 ACC) secured the team’s 13th Atlantic Coast Conference series win in its last 14 chances dating back to 2007. It also marked the team’s fourth-straight series win to open the 2009 season, as the `Canes now have series wins at home over Rutgers, NC State and the Blue Devils, in addition to a road sweep of then-No. 12 Florida.
With the score tied at six with one out and no one on in the bottom of the ninth, Hagerty hit a 0-1 offering on a line over the wall in right. The game-winner comes just over a week after he hit a two-run blast to give UM a 7-6 win in 12 innings against NC State on March 6.
Sunday’s win also marked the team’s second ninth-inning walk-off win on the weekend after Scott Lawson’s RBI double gave the Hurricanes a 5-4 win over Duke (10-6, 3-3 ACC) on Friday night.
Kyle Bellamy (3-0), making his earliest appearance this season coming on with two outs in the seventh, earned the win in allowing one run on two hits in 2 1/3 innings.
UM starter Iden Nazario left in the sixth with a 6-2 lead. Prior to exiting, Nazario allowed just two runs on six hits while walking one and striking out four in 5 2/3 innings. Travis Miller allowed two runs on two hits in a third of an inning while Taylor Wulf allowed a run in 2/3 innings.
Hagerty finished the day 1-for-3 with two runs scored while Dave DiNatale went 2-for-4 with two RBI and Harold Martinez had two RBI on a walk and a sacrifice fly.
Alex Hassan (1-2) suffered his second loss of the weekend for the Blue Devils in 1 1/3 innings of work. Starter Ryan Knott allowed four runs in four innings, reliever Dennis O’Grady gave up two in just 1/3 innings before Michael Ness and Will Currier combined to throw 2 2/3 scoreless before handing it over to Hassan in the eighth.
For the sixth-straight game, UM’s opponent got on the board first as Duke went up 1-0 in the third.
An inning later, the `Canes took 3-1 lead. Chris Herrmann walked to lead off the inning and after he reached third on a failed pick-off attempt, Harold Martinez’s sacrifice fly tied it up at one. Dave DiNatale followed that up with a single before Yasmani Grandal hit a double off the wall in right-center to give UM the lead. Moments later, a Ryan Jackson single to right scored Grandal to put the `Canes up two.
Miami pushed its lead to 6-1 in the fifth with three more runs. Martinez drew a bases-loaded walk before DiNatale singled through the left side, scoring two more put the `Canes up by five.
Duke rallied late however, scoring one in the sixth, three in the seventh and another in the eighth to tie it up at 6-6.
With UM up 6-5, Eric Pfisterer led off the eighth inning with a single. After Tom Lucianno came on to pinch-run for Pfisterer, a stolen base, a groundout and finally a sacrifice fly out deep in foul ground in left brought him home to even it up.
Matt Williams led the Blue Devils at the plate, going 3-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored while lead-off man Alex Hassan also finished 3-for-4 with two runs scored.
The `Canes will wrap up their 12-game homestand with a pair of midweek games this upcoming week against St. Thomas on Tuesday and UMBC on Wednesday. Both games are set for 6 p.m. at Alex Rodriguez Park.
Game Notes
– When Duke took a 1-0 lead in the third inning, it marked the sixth straight game Miami’s opponent scored first.
– Scott Lawson extended his team-best current hitting streak to eight straight games.
– Miami improved to 4-0 in Sunday games and 4-1 in one-run contests.
– Seven of UM’s nine hitters had at least one hit Sunday.
– Miami used its 15th different lineup in its first 17 games.
– With the win, Miami has now won eight of its last nine games.
– Kyle Bellamy’s eighth inning earned run ended an 11-inning scoreless streak for the All-American closer.
Series Notes
– Miami has now won 20 of its last 21 regular season series and 13 of its last 14 ACC series dating back to 2007.
– Scott Lawson and Nathan Melendres each had four hits on the weekend to lead the Hurricanes.
– Kyle Bellamy won both of Miami’s games against Duke. For the season, Bellamy has played a key role in half of Miami’s 14 wins (four saves, three wins).
– Miami hit .253 (24-for-95) on the weekend while UM hurlers had a combined 3.33 ERA (10 earned runs in 27 innings).
– Taylor Wulf appeared in all three games over the weekend. He has now appeared in six of UM’s last seven games.
