/
.
Virginia Baseball Falls To Miami, 5-1
Story Links
April 28, 2001
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Virginia baseball team dropped a 5-1 decision to the Miami Hurricanes in front of 2,234 spectators at the Mark Light Baseball Stadium this evening. The Hurricanes scored the game’s first four runs to take a 4-0 lead and cruised to a 5-1 victory, which was aided by five Cavaliers errors.
Miami jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning when Danny Matienzo and Kevin Mannix each scored a run. Matienzo walked to reach base and scored on an RBI-ground out by Mannix, before Mannix scored a run himself on an RBI-sacrifice fly to right field by Kris Clute. The Hurricanes added another run in the top of the third inning when Javy Rodriguez walked before scoring a run on Matienzo’s RBI-ground out to second base to make it a 3-0 contest.
It took Miami until the bottom of the fifth inning to record its second hit of the game, but J. Rodriquez made it count as he gave the Hurricanes a 4-0 lead after hitting a solo home run (his fifth of the season) just over the left field fence.
Virginia cut Miami’s lead to 4-1 in the bottom of the eighth inning when Robert Word (1-1, HR, RBI, run) entered the game as a pinch hitter and blasted a solo home run off the left field scoreboard. Word’s home run was his fourth of the season. However, the Hurricanes answered right back with a run of their own in the bottom half of the inning when Charlton Jimerson entered the game as a pinch runner and stole second and third bases before scoring Miami’s fifth run of the game on a throwing error to make it a 5-1 game.
The Cavaliers’ starting pitcher Canon Hickman (3-5) turned in a strong performance despite taking the loss. Hickman pitched 7.1 innings and allowed five runs (one earned) on just three hits while striking out five batters. The Hurricanes’ Brian Walker (9-1) won his fifth game of the year after pitching 7.0 scoreless innings and scattering just four hits with a game-high eight strikeouts.
UVa’s Mark Rueffert (2-4) was the only Cavalier to record more than one hit for Virginia. UVa’s Jon Benick (1-3) and Jeff Kamrath (1-2) each recorded a hit for the Cavaliers in the four-run defeat.
With the loss, Virginia’s record falls to 24-24 overall, while Miami improves to 34-11 with the victory. The Hurricanes have now tied the three-game series at 1-1.
Virginia and Miami will return to action on Sunday, April 29th to play the final game of the three-game series. The contest is scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m. and will be played at Mark Light Baseball Stadium.