Hurricanes Take Rivalry Finale Behind Encinosa's Outing

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Everything that seemed to go wrong for the Canes on Friday and Saturday went right on Sunday as Miami beat rival FSU, 5-1, at Alex Rodriguez Park. The Hurricanes were flawless in the field (after a combined nine errors in the first two games), the bats came alive and the pitching staff kept the Seminoles at bay in an important win in the series finale.

The victory improved Miami’s record to 29-15 overall and 16-7 in ACC play. FSU dropped to 33-11 and 16-8 with the loss.

A day after its first shut-out loss to FSU in eight seasons, UM’s bats were working right out of the gate on Sunday as the Canes scored two runs in the first and another in the second.

From then on, it was all about Miami’s pitchers.

After the early lead, the performance of starter E.J. Encinosa (4-3) became the story, as the sophomore right-hander allowed just three hits while striking out nine in six scoreless innings of work. The early run support was all he would need as he went on to earn his fourth victory of the season.

Travis Miller relieved Encinosa and pitched nearly as well, allowing one run on four hits while striking out five in 2 2/3 innings. Miller was one out away from earning his first save of the season, but Sam Robinson came on to get the final out for his fifth save.

Zeke DeVoss walked to lead off the ballgame and Miami quickly capitalized as a Nathan Melendres double was followed by a Rony Rodriguez single to right that scored both runners and put the Canes up for good.

Rodriguez finished the day 3-for-5 with the two RBI and a run scored, while Melendres went 2-for-3 with a pair of walks and a run scored. For the series, Rodriguez and Melendres went a combined 10-for-23 with 12 total bases. Melendres reached on eight of his 14 plate appearances in the series.

Dale Carey also had a pair of hits on Sunday and Miami finished with 10 hits a team.

Miami went up 3-0 in the second inning on a pair of doubles from Carey and Zeke DeVoss. And that would spell the end of the night for Seminole starter Mike McGee (1-2), who allowed the three runs on four hits and a pair of walks before exiting. FSU would use six relievers after McGee, with Mack Waugh and Scott Sitz each allowing a run.

Miami made it 4-0 in the sixth on a bases loaded walk and 5-0 in the seventh on a RBI single off the bat of Dale Carey.

FSU tried to make things interesting late, but Miami was able to hold on in the end. James Ramsey gave FSU its lone run on a solo homer in the eighth. Then in the ninth, the Noles loaded the bases on three singles, but Robinson was able to get UM of the jam getting Sherman Johnson to fly out to center.

Seven different hitters recorded a single hit for the Noles.

Miami will now have the mid-week off before it hosts Hofstra in a three-game, non-conference series at Alex Rodriguez Park beginning on Friday, May 6.

Live stats for the series will be provided through Game Tracker at HurricaneSports.com. Fans can also join the live chat, provided by Cover It Live, by visiting HurricaneSports.com as well.

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.

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

University of Miami Baseball Postgame Notes:

With the win, the Hurricanes improved to…

• 29-15 overall
• 19-8 at Alex Rodriguez Park
• 16-7 in ACC play
• 23-22-1 all-time against FSU
• 13-7 in day games
• 1-0 in May
• 8-4 on Sunday
• 24-8 when starter goes 5+ innings
• 6-3 when wearing white “U” hats

Melendres Hitting Streak Continues
Junior Nathan Melendres extended his hitting streak to five games with a first-inning double and fifth inning single. The center fielder has recorded a hit in each game dating back to the April 23rd matchup at North Carolina. His batting average of .333 now leads the team.

E.J. Makes `Em Pay
Sophomore pitcher E.J. Encinosa went six innings with no runs before being relieved by junior Travis Miller. Encinosa gave up just three hits and walked three while striking out nine of the 25 batters he faced. His ERA now rests at a solid 2.80.

Doubles Galore
Sophomore Zeke DeVoss, junior Rony Rodriguez, junior Nathan Melendres and freshman Dale Carey each had a double in Sunday’s game.

High-Performance Pitchers
Junior Travis Miller nearly earned his first save of the season when he relieved Encinosa in the sixth. He went 2.2 innings, allowing just four hits in 12 batters faced. Junior Sam Robinson replaced him in the ninth, however. Robinson has taken on a heavy load as of late. The right-hander pitched for a combined 2.4 innings in all three games of the FSU series and allowed just one run this weekend.

Wait Just a Second
Two RBI hits were eventually called ground rule doubles as both a second-inning triple by Zeke DeVoss and an eighth-inning inside-the-park homerun by Rony Rodriguez were both reversed to ground rule doubles.

You’re out of Here
For the first time the season at Alex Rodriguez Park, a visiting coach was ejected from the game. FSU’s third base coach Mike Martin, Jr. was tossed in the sixth inning by umpire Scott Cline for arguing.