Miami Baseball Takes Series from Appalachian with 10-0 Win

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Sophomore Eric Whaley went seven scoreless innings on the mound and seven Hurricanes collected base hits on Saturday afternoon, helping the 20th-ranked University of Miami baseball team to a 10-0 victory – taking two-of-three games in the series – against visiting Appalachian State inside Alex Rodriguez Park.

Miami (4-3) used strong pitching in the front and back end of the series this weekend, getting the second consecutive solid outing of the season from Whaley – a strong-throwing right-hander from Pompano Beach, Fla. Whaley went a career-long seven scoreless innings on the bump, spreading out three hits and tallying a career-high nine strikeouts. He walked just one batter in collecting the win, improving to 2-0 on the year.

Miami started the scoring in the fourth inning, using a three-run homer from freshman Shane Rowland, son of former UMiami second baseman Donny Rowland, to also score Brad Fieger and Stephen Perez on the play.

The scoring picked back up in the sixth inning as UM poured four more runs onto Appalachian State (5-2) starting pitcher Seth Grant.

After a Perez double and a Fieger single, Rodriguez plated Perez on a single to right field, followed by catcher David Villasuso collecting a sacrifice fly to left that allowed Fieger to come in from third. The `Canes pushed the lead to 7-0 when sophomore Joey Porro – playing in his first-ever collegiate game, produced a two-run scoring single to left, driving in Rowland and Rodriguez.

Grant was relieved on the hill by Jordan Jessup after going 5 2/3 innings.

Miami got to ASU reliever Ryne Frankoff in the eighth frame, scoring three runs courtesy a bases-loaded walk – allowing junior Zeke DeVoss the RBI, as well as another RBI single from Porro that pushed across Rowland for the third time on the afternoon. Appropriately, Porro closed the UM scoring with a run off a Perez sac fly, producing the final of 10-0.

The Hurricanes bullpen of freshman Javi Salas and junior Daniel Miranda went the final two innings for Whaley, pitching the eighth and ninth inning, respectively. Salas allowed one hit, and Miranda closed the ninth with two strikeouts.

The win went to Whaley, while the loss was tacked to the Mountaineers’ Grant, finishing with seven earned runs on seven hits and six strikeouts, evening his record for the year at 1-1.

ASU had four players with hits in the game including catcher Jeremy Dowdy with a 1-for-2 outing.

Miami was led at the dish by three players going 2-for-4 with Perez, Fieger and Porro. Rowland added three RBI via his three-run homer, and Porro added three RBI after making the start at second place in place of Michael Broad.

In the series, the Hurricanes used the bat of Fieger and Perez, each collecting an above .450 average at the plate, combining for 11 of the team’s 28 hits, including three doubles, a triple and three RBI. The pitching staff used a 1.67 ERA, as the two winning pitchers (Radziewski and Whaley) each posted 0.00 ERAs and combined for 16 strikeouts.

Miami will close its five games in five days schedule on Sunday, Feb. 27, traveling to play the Florida Marlins of the MLB in an exhibition game at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, Fla., at 1:05 p.m. UM will get back to the collegiate circuit on Tuesday, March 1, traveling to Tampa to face the USF Bulls at Steinbrenner Field as part of the “Florida Four” showcase, also featuring a game between Florida State and the University of Florida.

For ticket information to the “Florida Four”, please call 1-800-GO-CANES or visit Hurricanesports.com.

For more information on the University of Miami baseball team, please log on to HurricaneSports.com. To follow the UM Baseball Team via twitter, please navigate to Twitter.com/CanesBaseball. You can also access the official UMiami Baseball blog at TheUBaseball.com.

You can keep up-to-date with all UM Athletics via twitter at Twitter.com/HurricaneSports.  You can also become a fan of the `Canes on Facebook at Facebook.com/MiamiHurricanes.