BASEBALL: Team cruises with three wins over GT

After being postponed by tragedy, the No. 1 ranked University of Miami baseball team swept an emotionally-charged three-game series at No. 10 Georgia Tech.

The opening game of the series, originally scheduled for Friday night, was put off until Saturday after Yellow Jackets junior pitcher Michael Hutts was found dead in his off-campus apartment Friday morning.

“This was an emotionally draining day for us,” Georgia Tech Coach Danny Hall said after the doubleheader. “But give Miami credit for coming out and playing extremely well today.”

Before Saturday’s rescheduled game Saturday, Georgia Tech had a moment of silence and painted Hutts’ jersey No. 40 on the grass in front of the dugout.

“They’re hurting,” Hall told the Associated Press. “We got a chance to play two games today, but there’s still a lot of emotion riding on Michael.”

Junior center fielder Blake Tekotte went 9-for-15 for the Hurricanes (30-3, 15-1 ACC) with nine RBIs.

After a tough midweek loss against Florida Atlantic at home, Miami got back on track against the Yellow Jackets (26-10, 9-9 ACC), winning both games of the Saturday doubleheader by scores of 10-5 and 15-5. Miami combined for 46 hits, including eight home runs in the series.

Freshman pitcher Chris Hernandez (5-0) had another strong outing, giving up only three runs on seven hits in six innings of work. Hernandez is now tied with sophomores Eric Erickson and Kyle Bellamy with a team-leading five wins on the season.

Miami jumped ahead earlier on Saturday night and never looked back, winning easily by a score of 15-5. Tekotte had a career day going 4-for-4 and was just a double shy of the cycle. His two home runs and seven RBIs in the game proved to be the difference maker. Georgia Tech starting pitcher Eric Burns (4-3) had a rough outing giving up six hits and six earned runs in two innings as the Canes led 9-1 after three.

Senior pitcher Enrique Garcia (2-0) gave up eight hits through seven innings to get the win and clinch the series for the Hurricanes. Junior second baseman Jemile Weeks and sophomore shortstop Ryan Jackson each added two RBIs in the game.

Miami finished off the series with a 9-3 victory to complete the sweep of the Yellow Jackets. Georgia Tech had a run in each of their first three innings, but a two-run home run from junior left fielder Adan Severino and a solo shot from Alonso gave Miami a 6-3 lead. Another great pitching performance, this time from sophomore pitcher David Gutierrez (2-0), combined with 16 hits secured the win for the Canes.

Miami will now head to Boca Raton to play Florida Atlantic Wednesday before taking on No. 2 Florida State in Tallahassee this weekend.

Rory Lincoln may be contacted at r.lincoln@umiami.edu.