No. 21 Miami Sweeps Wake Forest to Close Out Regular Season
May 16, 2009
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The 21st-ranked University of Miami baseball team closed out its 2009 regular season with a series sweep of Wake Forest, picking up a 4-2 win in the series finale Saturday night at Wake Forest Baseball Park.
After winning 23-5 in the series opener on Thursday, Miami (35-18, 18-12 ACC) finished off the weekend with a doubleheader sweep over Wake Forest (22-30, 6-24 ACC) winning 19-6 in the first game on Saturday before edging out the Demon Deacons in the finale. The Hurricanes closed out the weekend scoring 46 runs in the series – the most by a UM team in a three-game series since the 2003 Hurricanes scored 70 against Pace, May 2-4, 2003.
Chris Herrmann, who hit two homers in the first game on Saturday, went 4-for-4 with a walk and a RBI in game two. Yasmani Grandal went 3-for-5 with a runs scored while Ryan Jackson finished 2-for-4 with a walk, a RBI and two runs scored.
UM starter Travis Miller allowed just one and one walk while striking out three in three scoreless innings before Sam Robinson came on in relief to start the fourth. After Robinson, Michael Rudman and Daniel Miranda filled the gap before closer Kyle Bellamy tossed 2 1/3 scoreless to earn his league-leading 15th save of the season. Rudman, who went 1 1/3 scoreless, earned the win to improve to 4-0 on the year.
Wake starter Michael Dimock allowed just two earned runs on 11 hits while striking out six in six innings. From there, Mark Adzick allowed an unearned run in an inning before Ryan McGrath and Zach White each tossed a scoreless inning.
Steven Brooks and Austin Stadler each went 2-for-4 for Wake Forest while Shan Kroker had both RBI for the Demon Deacons.
For the second time in the series, Miami homered in the first inning as Jackson smacked a deep blast to left-center to give the Hurricanes an early 1-0 advantage.
The `Canes went up 3-0 in the third when Jason Hagerty hit a two-run blast to straight-away center, scoring Jackson from first. Hagerty’s blast – his second of the weekend – proved to be the game-winner for the `Canes.
After the `Canes added a fourth run in the top of the seventh on a Herrmann RBI single, Wake cut UM’s lead in half in the bottom half of the inning when Kroker hit a two-run homer to left.
The Hurricanes will remain in North Carolina to begin preparation for next week’s ACC Tournament in Durham. The eight-team, five-day event at the Durham Bulls Athletic is slated to start on Wednesday with the championship game set for Sunday.
Game Notes
– Travis Miller made his first career start, tossing three scoreless innings.
– Jason Hagerty homered in both games of Saturday’s double-header, hitting a two-run shot in the second game after hitting a three-run shot in the first.
– Kyle Bellamy increased his league-leading save total to 15, tossing 1 1/3 scoreless innings in Saturday’s second game.
– Chris Herrmann reached safely in all five plate appearances, with three singles, a double and a walk.
Series Notes
– Miami’s 46 runs in the series was the most by a UM team in a three-game series since the 2003 Hurricanes scored 70 against Pace, May 2-4, 2003.
– Three Hurricanes hit two home runs in the series – Scott Lawson, Chris Herrmann and Jason Hagerty.
– Chris Herrmann recorded at least three hits in all three games of the series, collecting three on Thursday before hitting three in Saturday’s first game and four in the series finale. Herrmann led the `Canes in hitting on the weekend, going 10-for-13 (.769) with two homers and team-highs in RBI (8), runs (8), total bases (17), walks (4), slugging percentage (1.308) and on-base percentage (.824).
– The series win for Miami was its 18th in its last 22 in ACC play.
