March 26, 2008

Box Score

Coral Gables, Fla. - The second-ranked University of Miami Hurricanes scored three crucial runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to capture a dramatic come-from-behind victory over Bethune-Cookman University, 7-6 on Wednesday evening at Mark Light Field in Coral Gables, Fla.

It was the same old song for the Wildcats as they held a lead against a nationally-ranked opponent only to fall late on heroics from the home team. Or they would become distracted by the crowd. Or the bullpen was a major factor again. Either way, Bethune-Cookman (14-9) just has a tough time holding that lead against top-ranked opponents, no matter what the situation.

"To be brutally honest, we choked tonight," admitted B-CU head coach Mervyl Melendez. "We had the #2 team in the nation in a tight contest, and we let it slip away. We choked, and I really can't say it any other way than that."

Miami (19-2) trailed the visiting Wildcats by a count of 6-4 in the bottom of the eighth inning.

After Dennis Raben reached on a walk, Sobolewski struck-out to put one away for the `Cats. Relief pitcher Joseph Gautier entered for one batter to get hot-hitting Yonder Alonso to strike-out in order for two outs in the frame. Jonathan Weislow stole second as a pinch runner and Dennis Raben stole second to put runners in scoring position for the Hurricanes.

B-CU turned to Hiram Burgos to take over on the mound for the last out, but the Hurricanes' Dave DiNatale had other ideas as he singled up the middle to score two in order to knot the game at 6-6. Yasmani Grandel then singled through the right side to break the tie at 7-6 as DiNatale crossed for the 7-6 Hurricanes advantage.

The `Cats still had a chance to tie the game in the ninth as Patrick Jones started off the frame with a single past third, but the next two batters struck-out in order for two outs. That's when Jones was caught trying to swipe second on a throw from Grandel that put the game away for the third out.

"We have to be smarter in those situations," added Melendez. "We can't do things like that against anyone, especially a team the caliber of Miami. We had our opportunities, and we didn't answer the call tonight or last night, for that matter. We are not focused on what we need to do late in games against teams like Miami, and we have to find a way to be more consistent."

B-CU and Miami were deadlocked at 1-1 after the first inning before the `Cats took the lead in the second with a run-scoring single from Emmanuel Castro to plate Neal Jones who reached on a fielder's choice earlier in the inning. B-CU led 2-1 at that point.

The `Canes struck in the home-half of the third to surge ahead at 3-2.

Jemile Weeks, seeing his first real action of the series, collected a run-scoring triple, and teammate Raben collected a RBI ground-out to cross Weeks later in the frame.

B-CU scored three runs of their own in the fifth inning to go back on top, 5-3.

Neal Jones then singled through the left side to score Torres, while he later scored on a single to center from catcher Drew Clark.

The Wildcats went on top 6-4 in the sixth as Neal Jones collected his second homerun of the season with a lead-off shot to left field. It was the second homer of the series for the `Cats at Mark Light Field.

B-CU got a great start tonight from sophomore Felix Machado as he went 5.1 innings with seven hits allowed and four earned runs. He also fanned five batters in the process. It was much different from last night's starting debacle.

"Machado did a good job for us tonight, and he put us in position for the win, certainly," commented Melendez afterwards. "We didn't get that from [Samuel] Rodriguez last night and our bullpen had to work extra. Tonight our starter was good, but it was the bullpen that crashed. We just have not been able to get everyone on the same page yet."

The loss went to B-CU's Hiram Burgos out of the bullpen for his first defeat of the year as he fell to 2-1. The win went to Miami's Kyle Bellamy out of the Hurricanes bullpen to keep his record clean on the year at 2-0. The `Canes used four pitchers out of the bullpen after starter David Gutierrez was hit five times for four runs in three innings on the bump.

The Wildcats step back onto the field on Friday night at 6 p.m. when they take on Savannah State University at Jackie Robinson Ballpark in Daytona Beach. The teams will meet on Saturday and Sunday, respectively, as well for a three-game swing. Live stats for all games will be available through Game Tracker at www.BCCathletics.com.