No. 6 Miami Tops Manhattan, Clinches Series
Miami144
Manhattan
| RELATED LINKS |
| Box Score |
| Reaction: Morris | Collins |
| Season Stats |
| Sunday: Buy Tickets |
| LINESCORE | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| MAN | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 4 |
| MIA | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | X | 14 | 13 | 1 |
| PITCHING | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | |||||||
| W – M. Mediavilla (3-0) | 6.0 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | ||||||
| L – J. Rocchietti (1-1) | 5.0 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 1 | 0 | ||||||
| INDIVIDUAL LEADERS | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AB | R | H | RBI | BB | HR | |||||||
| MIA – Z. Collins | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| MIA – E. Michelangeli | 5 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| PLAYER OF THE GAME |
|---|
 Zack Collins | Jr.
The junior slugger reached base in all three plate appearances Saturday, including a two-run home run, to raise his on-base percentage to .600. |
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Junior Zack Collins homered for the third time in the past three games, sophomore Michael Mediavilla pitched six strong innings, and sixth-ranked Miami clinched its series against visiting Manhattan with a 14-4 win Saturday.
Collins, who had two home runs in Tuesday’s 6-2 win over FGCU, connected on the 29th longball of his career and reached in all three plate appearances, raising his team-high on-base percentage to .600.
Mediavilla improved to 3-0 with another solid outing for the Hurricanes in front of 2,734 at Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field. The sophomore lefthander scattered four hits and four walks but allowed just one earned run in his sixth and final inning.
He struck out five batters, threw 106 pitches and saw his ERA rise only marginally from 0.82 to 1.06.
Two Jaspers errors on sacrifice bunts opened the scoring for the Hurricanes (8-2) in the third inning.
Jaspers first baseman Ryan Gronlier and starting pitcher Joe Rocchietti both committed miscues in the inning, including a throw from Rocchietti that caromed off sophomore Carl Chester on his way to first base, resulting in the first two runs.
After an RBI single from Barr made it 3-0 in favor of the Hurricanes, Collins crushed the first pitch he saw from Rocchietti over the fence in left to move Miami’s lead to 5-0.
“It was an outside fastball,” Collins said. “Again, just trying to be aggressive and swing at strikes.”
The home run was the third straight opposite-field blast for Collins.
“I’m not trying to hit the ball that way or anything, I’m just hitting it where it’s pitched,” Collins said.
Miami added three runs in the fourth. An RBI single from Chester, a bases-loaded walk to Collins from Rocchietti (1-1) and an RBI groundout from junior Johnny Ruiz put the hosts ahead 8-0.
The RBI was the team-high 13th for Ruiz, who is hitting .412 through the first 10 games of the season.
The Hurricanes chased Rocchietti after 5.0 innings, having tagged him for nine hits and nine runs.
Mediavilla, who struck out the side in the first, ran into trouble in the sixth when Brendan Bisset singled and Christian Santisteban doubled to open the inning.
A one-out sacrifice fly from Chris Reynolds gave Manhattan (1-4) its first run of the series, and an RBI single to right cut Miami’s lead to 9-2. But with two runners on base, Mediavilla buckled down and induced a groundout from Anthony Rondon to end his outing after six innings.
“He threw well. I think he probably got a little tired there, he had a lot of pitches that last inning,” head coach Jim Morris said. “He got up to 106.”
Miami responded in the bottom half of the same frame with a two-RBI, bases-loaded single from senior Brandon Lopez to regain a nine-run advantage.
The Jaspers connected for two runs in the seventh off freshman righthander Andrew Cabezas.
Redshirt freshman Devin Meyer pitched a scoreless eighth, while freshman Isaiah Musa tossed a scoreless ninth.
Miami returns to Mark Light Field Sunday looking for a sweep of Manhattan. First pitch for the series finale, set for broadcast on ESPN3 and WatchESPN, is set for 1 p.m.
