March 29, 2008

Box Score

DURHAM, N.C. - Senior right-hander Enrique Garcia turned in his best outing of the season, allowing just one run on three hits while striking out five in eight innings en route to his first win, as the No. 2 University of Miami baseball team cruised past Duke, 8-1, Saturday afternoon at Jack Coombs Field. With the win, the Hurricanes (21-2, 9-1 ACC) clinched their sixth straight series to open the season, with the last four coming against ACC opposition.

Garcia (1-0) had his longest outing since tossing a complete game in a 2-1 win at Wake Forest, May 13, 2007. After allowing a hit in the second and two hits in the third, Garcia held the Blue Devil batters hitless from the fourth to the eighth, before giving way to freshman Iden Nazario who allowed just one hit while striking out two in the ninth.

Blake Tekotte, Ryan Jackson and Adan Severino all finished with three hits as Miami finished with 12 hits as a team, the ninth straight contest the Hurricanes finished with double-digit hits. Seven different Hurricanes finished with an RBI, including Jackson, who went 3-for-4 with two doubles, an RBI and two runs scored. Tekotte continued to swing a hot bat, collecting multiple hits in both games against the Blue Devils, going 3-for-6 with a RBI and a run scored.

Duke starter Will Currier (2-4) suffered the loss, giving up six runs - only two of which were earned - on seven hits while walking three and striking out three in 5 2/3 innings. Ryan Knott and Kyle Butler each allowed a run in relief. Jeremy Gould collected Duke's only RBI, going 1-for-4 on the afternoon.

Three Blue Devil errors and a pair of hits for the Hurricanes led to a five-run third as UM opened the scoring. After Jason Hagerty was hit by a pitch to lead off the innning, Tekotte smacked a single to left-center to put runners on first and second with no outs. A Currier wild pitch moved the runners over before Jemile Weeks drove in Hagerty for UM's first run with a grounder to short that was misplayed by Jake Lemmerman. With Tekotte on third and Weeks on first, Yonder Alonso walked to load the bases. With one out, Tekotte scored on an error by catcher Matt Williams giving the Hurricanes a 2-0 lead. Weeks came in a batter later on another error, this time by centerfielder John Bunder, making it, 3-0. Jackson's sacrifice fly to left then scored Alonso from third before Severino's first single to right scored Mark Sobolewski from second to put UM up 5-0.

Duke (21-7, 4-7 ACC) got a run back in the bottom half of the third when Gould singled up the middle to score Ryan McCurdy from second base.

With Severino on first after a single to right and two outs on the board in the sixth, Duke walked three straight batters - Weeks, Alonso and Raben - to score Severino for UM's sixth run of the afternoon.

A single by Jackson and a walk by Severino put runners at first and second in the seventh. Hagerty moved Jackson to third with a deep foul out to right before Tekotte hit an opposite field single through the left side, scoring Jackson to put the Hurricanes up, 7-1.

UM scored its final run when Hagerty's sacrifice fly to center scored Jackson from third in the ninth making it, 8-1.

The final game of the three-game series has been moved from a 1 p.m. start to a 12 p.m. start on Sunday. Miami will send sophomore RHP Alex Koronis (1-1) to the mound while Duke will go with another right-hander in Grant Monroe.

Game Notes

-Senior right-hander Enrique Garcia tossed a season-high eight innings, earning his first win of the season.

-Sophomore shortstop Ryan Jackson (3-for-4) recorded multiple hits for a team-leading 11^th time this season.

-Junior centerfielder Blake Tekotte extended his hitting streak to nine straight games with a 3-for-6 performance Saturday. It is the longest active streak on the team and it is just one game shy of Jemile Weeks' team-best mark of 10 straight games with a hit (2/24 - 3/14).

-Through the first two games of the Duke series, Tekotte also has a team-high five hits.

-Junior Adan Severino (3-for-4) recorded his second career three-hit contest.

- Miami extended its winning streak to eight games - the longest streak since the Hurricanes rattled off 16 straight during the 2006 season.