No. 24 Miami Drops Game Two 9-2

March 8, 2013

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – No. 24 Miami continued its weekend series with visiting Duke Saturday night at Alex Rodriguez Park, dropping its second straight matchup in the opening conference series by a final score of 9-2.

The Hurricanes struggled offensively against Blue Devils starter Drew Van Orden (1-1), who went six innings and allowed just three hits.

Miami starter Javi Salas (2-1) was pulled after 3.2 innings in his shortest stint of the season. Despite striking out a season-high five batters, the Coral Gables native was also charged with a season-high five runs, dropping his personal record to 2-1.

For the second straight night, Duke plated a run in the game’s opening inning. Blue Devils infielder Andy Perez connected on a leadoff single off Salas, and later advanced to third on a stolen base and throwing error charged to catcher Alex San Juan. Salas nearly got out of the inning unharmed by striking out the next two batters, but a single up the middle from Chris Marconcini on a 1-2 count gave Duke a 1-0 lead.

Duke struck for three runs off Salas in the third on an RBI groundout from Jeff Kremer and RBI singles from Mike Rosenfeld and Matt Berezo. After the junior righthander was tagged for another run in the fourth on an RBI double from Kremer, sophomore Alexander Fernandez came on in relief with two outs in the inning, and promptly induced a groundout from Anthony D’Alessandro.

The fourth inning provided a scary moment for the Hurricanes (12-4, 0-2 ACC), as Kremer’s double ricocheted on a sharp hop and hit junior third baseman Brad Fieger in the face. Sophomore Esteban Tresgallo replaced Fieger at third for the remainder of the night. After the game, head coach Jim Morris said Fieger’s status for Sunday’s game was in question.

Miami scored two runs in the ninth, as Duke reliever Sarkis Ohanian’s wild pitch scored pinch-hitter Christopher Barr, while a sacrifice fly from pinch-hitter Roger Gonzalez plated Tresgallo from third. But Ohanian induced a flyout from Tyler Palmer to end the game and clinch the series for the Blue Devils.

The two teams will return to Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field for the series finale on Sunday afternoon. First pitch for the matchup, scheduled for broadcast on WQAM 560, is set for 1 p.m.