While most UM students were on vacation last week, it was business as usual for the Miami baseball team. Over the break, the team posted a 6-1 record with sweeps of Tennessee and South Florida before splitting a two game series with Rutgers last weekend.
An eight game winning streak was literally washed away on Saturday night as the second game of the Rutgers series was rained out. Miami ended up losing Sunday 8-7 in 12 innings despite a valiant comeback effort.
“We made a lot of mistakes,” head coach Jim Morris said. “They capitalized on our errors and were able to win the ballgame.”
It was a bittersweet night for Miami third baseman Ryan Braun who committed what turned out to be the fatal error for the Hurricanes in the top of the twelfth inning. Braun followed up with a leadoff solo home run in the bottom of the inning but it wasn’t enough as Miami stranded runners on base to end the game.
“You just have to go out there the next day and get right back on it,” Braun said. “We could easily be 19-0 right now but mistakes are made and you have to go out there and keep playing.”
On Tuesday night, Miami played St. Peter’s College. The game was added to the schedule as a result of a Miami-Florida rainout in Gainesville earlier this year.
The Hurricanes rebounded from their Sunday afternoon loss in a big way by crushing the Peacocks 16-2 in front of a sparse crowd at Mark Light Field.
Brandon Camardese improved to 4-0 on the season while Miami right fielder Richard Giannotti had a break through night at the plate going 4-4 and tying a career high with three RBIs.
On Wednesday, the Hurricanes continued on their winning ways against the Stony Brook Seawolves.
After a sea-saw affair, the Canes finally pulled it out for the 9-8 victory in the bottom of the 10th inning when Paco Figueroa scored on an RBI single by Braun.
Hurricane closer George Huguet picked up his second win of the season after coming into the ball game with the score tied in the ninth inning.
“Being the closer is a tough job because you don’t get any rest and you have to be ready to go every day,” Huguet said.
With the win, Miami improves to 17-4 on the year. The Seawolves drop to 4-5.
UM starting pitcher Ryan Dixon received a nice cushion early when a Seawolves error with two outs led to four unearned runs for the Hurricanes.
The first earned runs of the game came when Stony Brook DH David Wood hit a 2-run blast over the right- center field fence to bring the score to 5-3 at that point.
Miami appeared to have the game well in hand until the Seawolves tied the contest at 6-6 in the top of the fifth when Dixon appeared to fatigue. Miami reliever Marcelo Albir put a stop to the inning without any further scoring. The game remained an up and down affair throughout until Braun put an end to the night.
Despite the win Morris was not pleased with his team’s level of play.
“It was a bad game played and a bad game to watch,” Morris said. “We had no intensity in this game. We have to step it up.”
This weekend the Hurricanes will face Boston College in a three game series at Mark Light Stadium. Game times will be 7pm tonight and tomorrow night and 1pm on Sunday afternoon.
-Ryan Ellis can be reached at msgnyc@yahoo.com