CORAL GABLES, Fla. - Adonis Lao capped a seven-run comeback with his first home run of the season in the eighth and became the first Bethune-Cookman player in over a decade to hit for the cycle. The Wildcats fell victim to a walk-off though as Miami snuck away with a 12-11 score Sunday at Mark Light Field at Alex Rodriguez Park.
It was a marathon, see-saw affair that saw Miami (21-25) score 11 unanswered runs before BCU's (18-31) seven-straight. Including a 1:39 rain delay in the top of the second, the game lasted five hours and 28 minutes.
The action began a crooked number in the first. Lao crossed off the most difficult part of the cycle with his second leadoff triple in as many days. He scored on a Sterijevksi single, who was later plated on Michael Deeb's RBI base hit. The third and final run of the inning came on a Giovany Lorenzo groundout.
Alexis Herrera's homecoming start was cut short after allowing only a hit in the first.
In the top of the second, Kyle Corbin reached on an error and Lao singled to start the frame. Sterijevksi sacrifice bunted both over before the skies opened and the game went into a 1:39 delay.
Starter Andrew Cabezas did not return after the delay and Andrew Federman put Danny Rodriguez on the load the bags. Two batters later, Deeb drew a walk and BCU took a 4-0 lead.
The home half of the inning saw the Hurricanes score seven runs off five hits, four walks, and three pitchers. Hererra was tagged for four earned and Brandon Frank for three. Isaak Gutierrez ended the inning when his first pitch led to a fielder's choice.
Miami scored four more in the third to take an 11-4 lead. BCU, however, saw Gutierrez settle in while the offense chipped away. The sophomore pitched into the fifth without another run and finished with four hits, four earned runs, three walks, and two strikeouts.
The Wildcats roughed up reliever Michael Mediavilla for four runs in the fifth. With one out, Jake Hellweg singled to right-center, and Joe Fernando and Kyle Corbin both bunted to reach. Lao then smacked a double to deep left that scored Hellweg and Fernando. Consecutive walks to Sterijevksi loaded the bases then scored Lao on Rodriguez's free pass.Â
Jeremy Cook replaced Mediavilla and saw the fourth run of the frame score on a Stacy fielder's choice.
BCU grabbed two more runs back in the sixth. Hellweg again set the table with a leadoff single, and scored later on a Corbin triple to RF. Lao's soft hit to mound was fielded cleanly by Cook, the the hurler airmailed the throw to first and Corbin beat a throw back home to make the new score 11-10 in favor of Miami.
Brandon Wilkes bailed out Gutierrez after consecutive one-out walks in the bottom of the inning with a strikeout and fly-out.Â
Frankie Bartow had kept the 'Cats quiet since entering following the throwing error in the sixth until two outs and bags empty in the eighth. Lao took a 1-0 pitch and blasted his first homer of the season over a leaping Michael Burns in left centerfield to complete the cycle and knot the contest at 11.
Heartbreak came for the second straight game in the ninth. Willy Escala singled and Freddy Zamora was hit-by-pitch to begin the Hurricane rally. Wilkes induced a pop-up of Burns and Stacy made a snow come stab at a liner in foul ground off the bat of Isaac Quinones for the second out. Romy Gonzalez was the hero for the home team as he bounced a single up the middle and Zamora beat Corbin's throw home to seal a series sweep for Miami.
Corbin set a season-high with four hits and three RBI. The Wildcats totaled 15 hits and for the first time in the 43-game series, BCU scored double-digit runs against the Hurricanes.Â
Wilkes was saddled with the loss to drop to 0-3. He allowed the one run off three hits in 3.1 innings. He issued only one walk and struck out two. Bartow picked up the win to move to 3-0 with three innings of relief action.
BCU returns to conference play with a three-game home series against Savannah State starting May 11.
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