Miami took the swing game of the 3-game series vs the #23 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 17-7 on Sunday.

With the win Miami moves to 6-9 (2-1 ACC) on the season.

Things looked bad for Miami early, as on the first pitch of the game GT took a 1-0 lead after a solo homerun, but Michael Mediavilla settled in and prevented anymore damage.

In the bottom of the first James Davison led off the Hurricanes with a single, and he quickly moved to third after an error on a steal attempt. Johnny Ruiz then smacked a single to tie the game at 1. Carl Chester then continued his success on the weekend with a double to left, Romy Gonzalez then hit a single that scored Ruiz from third, and Miami led 2-1. Another fielding error on a dribbler hit by Michael Burns drove in yet another run for Miami. Greg Veliz then crushed a fast moving grounder towards first, but a great defensive play by Tech’s first baseman prevented a run from scoring. Edgar Michelangeli then drew a walk to load the bases for Joe Gomez, but he hit into a fielder’s choice and the inning ended with a 3-1 lead for Miami.

James Davison then led off for the second consecutive inning, and he laid down a nice bunt down the line for a single. Davison then was a terror on the basepaths once again, stealing second. After a Johnny Ruiz strikeout, Carl Chester put the ball in play with a groundout to move Davison to third, and Romy Gonzalez hit a nice two out RBI single to score Davison, and the Hurricanes had a 4-1 lead heading to the top of the third.

In the bottom of the third, the Hurricanes once again put runs on the board. Greg Veliz was hit by a pitch to start off the inning, and moved to second on a Randy Batista sac-bunt. Edgar Michelangeli then came to the plate and smacked a monster two-run homer to give the Hurricanes a 6-1 lead. Joe Gomez then followed the homer with a single, and James Davison followed with another single for his third hit of the day. Johnny Ruiz then loaded the bases after taking a walk, and Carl Chester drove in yet another Miami run with a RBI groundout. Unfortunately Romy Gonzalez struck out to end the Miami threat.

Tech put together a bit of a response in the top of the fourth. Coleman Poje, Tech’s hottest hitter of the weekend, started out the inning for them with a double. That was followed by another GT double that drove in Poje, making the game 7-2. Yet another double drove in the runner at second, and it was now only 7-3 in favor of the Hurricanes. After that a near homerun ended the inning with the Hurricane lead down to 4.

In the bottom of the fifth the Hurricanes once again put runs across the plate. James Davison continued his streak of reaching base with a walk, and once again stole second. Johnny Ruiz then connected for a double that scored Davison, and the lead was pushed out to 8-3. Romy Gonzalez then walked, and Michael Burns came up to bat. Burns then placed a nice RBI single to left that gave Miami another run of cushioning, and the good guys led 9-3.

In the top of the sixth a GT homerun made the game 9-4, and that was the end of Michael Mediavilla’s day, he was replaced by Kevin Pimentel.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Hurricanes loaded the bases for Michael Burns, and he hit a monster grand-slam to effectively end the competitive part of the game, as Miami led 13-4.

After Burns’ slam both teams brought in backups and players who don’t play often. UM allowed Hunter Tackett into the game, it was nice to see him get a single in the bottom of the seventh, hopefully that ends his struggles at the plate.

After the seventh a few runs were scored here and there, and that led to an eventual final score of 17-7 in favor of Miami.

It was absolutely HUGE to get this series win for Miami, and hopefully the bats stay warm and the season goes well from here on out.

Game Stats:

Winning Pitcher: Michael Mediavilla (1-3, 9 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 11 K, 6.0 IP)

Losing Pitcher: Jake Lee (0-1, 8 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 2.1 IP)

Save: None

Box Score:

Next Game:

Tuesday, March 14, vs Maine at The Light

Hurricanes Starter: Greg Veliz (0-1)

Radio: WVUM 90.5

Television: ACC Network Extra