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March 5, 2006
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (www.hurricanesports.com) -The University of Miami baseball used a four-run rally in the sixth inning to complete a series sweep of Indiana in a 6-4 victory in front of 1,202 at Mark Light Field Sunday afternoon. Miami improved to 12-6 overall and ran its winning streak to six games while Indiana remained winless at 0-6.
Sunday's win also marked the 1,500th regular-season home win in Miami's baseball history.
UM junior third baseman Danny Valencia scored two game-tying runs, including a two-run home run in the fourth inning, and started the game-winning rally in the sixth with a ground-rule double.
Miami starting pitcher Scott Maine (2-0) gave up four runs, one earned, on seven hits in six innings for the win. Maine struck out two and walked one. Chris Perez pitched two innings of relief to pick up his fourth save of the season.
Indiana jumped out to an early lead in the second inning. Tad Reida hit a leadoff double and moved over to third when Michael Nilles laid down a sacrifice bunt. Reida scored on Steve Head's bloop single for the 1-0 lead.
The Hoosiers went up 2-0 in the top of the fourth. Reida lined a single into right and moved to second when Nilles laid down another sacrifice bunt. Head was hit by a pitch. Chris Hervey moved Reida to third on a fielder's choice. Reida scored on an errant throw home from Jemile Weeks after Richard O'Brien tried to throw out Head stealing second.
Valencia tied the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the inning, driving in Jon Jay with a two-run home run, his first of the year.
Indiana went back on top, 4-2, in the fifth on two unearned runs. The Hoosiers loaded the bases on a leadoff single from Haas, an error by first baseman Yonder Alonso on a Reggie Watson grounder and a hit batsman. Reida knocked Haas in with a single and Watson scored on Dennis Raben's fielding error in right field.
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Raben redeemed himself in the sixth with Indiana threatening to increase its lead with Head at third base and IU catcher Billy O'Connor at the plate. Raben made a sliding catch on O'Connor's shallow fly to right and came up firing, gunning out Head at the plate to end the inning.
Miami rallied in the sixth inning to take a 6-4 lead. Alonso reached on a fielder's choice and moved to third on Valencia's ground-rule double. Alonso scored on Tommy Giles' single.
Raben was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Valencia scored from third on a wild pitch to Richard O'Brien to knot the game up at 4-4. O'Brien walked to load the bases and Walter Diaz singled in Giles for the go-ahead run. IU reliever Dave Trager issued a walk to Weeks to keep the bases loaded and score Raben for the 6-4 Miami lead.
Indiana starting pitcher Chris McCombs went five and a third, giving up four runs on six hits. He struck out four and walked one. Brad Davidson (0-1) took the loss without recording an out in the game. Davidson gave up two runs on one hit and one walk in the sixth inning.
Miami returns to action at Mark Light Field on Wednesday, March 8 with a 7 p.m. first pitch against Michigan State. The Hurricanes open up ACC play with a three-game series against Virginia Tech at The Light, beginning on Friday, March 10 at 7 p.m.
Game Notes: The Miami pitching staff held the opposing team's series batting average under .200 for the third-consecutive series and limited the Hoosiers to .154 at the plate (14-of-91) ... Hurricanes pitchers gave up only two earned runs for an ERA of 0.67 against Indiana in the series ... Chris Perez's save, the 12th of his career, moves him into sole possession of ninth on the all-time list ... Miami lowered its staff ERA to 2.80.
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