'Canes Nip State 4-1; Dogs Face Florida Atlantic In Sunday Elimination Round Game
June 04, 2005 | Baseball
Official Game Statistics (PDF)
CORAL GABLES, Fla. -- Miami lead-off hitter Danny Figueroa provided the offense and ace pitcher Cesar Carrillo kept the Bulldog bats at bay Saturday night as No. 11 Miami (40-17-1) turned back No. 19 Mississippi State (41-21) in the winner's bracket game of the 2005 NCAA Coral Gables Regional. The win advances the Hurricanes to a 6 p.m. (CDT) Sunday championship game and sends Mississippi State on to a 2 p.m. (CDT) elimination matchup with Florida Atlantic. FAU eliminated Virginia Commonwealth 3-1 earlier Saturday at Mark Light Stadium.
Figueroa was a one-man wrecking crew for the Hurricanes, reaching base in all five plate appearances, stealing three bases and scoring two of UM's four runs. He walked and scored Miami's first run in the fourth, breaking up an impressive pitching duel by Carrillo and State starter Todd Doolittle.
Doolittle (5-7) worked around difficulties in the first four frames before Figeuero walked to open the fifth, stole second, and scored on a single to left by Jon Jay. It was the only run allowed by the Bulldog senior, who scattered six hits, walked four and struck out six during his six innings of mound duty.
Carrillo no-hit the Bulldogs through four innings before Brian LaNinfa ripped a double off the right-center field wall. The UM ace struck out six of the first eight Bulldogs he faced, losing the shutout in the eighth inning. UM led 2-0 when Jeffrey Rea and Ed Easley delivered back-to-back one-out singles and Carrillo struck Thomas Berkery to load the bases in the eighth inning. Brad Jones then launched a fly ball to right-center that was hauled in at the wall, scoring Rea and closing the Miami lead to 2-1. Relief man Chris Perez came on to end the Bulldog rally, retiring Brad Corley on a grounder to shortstop. Corley just missed his third home run of the weekend in his previous at-bat when he opened the seventh with a fly ball just shy of the fence in left-center.
"Carrillo was too tough on us tonight," said coach Ron Polk. "And Figueroa was the key to Miami's offense, getting on base all five times. I thought Todd Doolittle pitched well for us tonight. We just couldn't get anything going against Carrillo early in the game."
Bulldog relief pitcher Mike Valentine, who replaced Doolittle to begin the seventh, ran into problems immediately, loading the bases with a pair of singles and a walk. State avoided major problems when Valentine sandwiched infield groundouts around Danny Valencia's sacrifice fly to left. Valentine was charged with three runs on four hits in two innings of relief.
MSU's hopes to stay unbeaten in the double-elimination tournament fell in the eighth when Eddy Rodriguez opened the inning with a single to left and, after Valentine retired the next two batters, Figueroa followed with his fifth home run of the year, a two-run blast to left.
State bunched four of its five hits in the last three innings, with LaNinfa leading MSU's hitters with two hits. Sophomore second baseman Jeffrey Rea singled and scored MSU's lone run in the seventh inning, extending his NCAA regional tournament hitting streak to all five regional tournament games in 2004 and 2005.
Figueroa had three hits and Rodriguez added two to pace UM's 10-hit attack.
Mississippi State now faces Florida Atlantic Sunday in a 2 p.m. (CDT) elimination game, with the winner advancing to meet Miami in a potential championship game at 6 p.m. (CDT). State opened the Coral Gables Regional with a 13-2 win over FAU. Sophomore Jon Crosby (5-3, 3.36) will open on the mound for MSU against FAU, while junior lefty Brooks Dunn (6-2, 3.59) is State's likely starter should MSU advance to a second Sunday game against Miami.
"This is an opportunity to prove what we are as a team," said MSU junior first baseman Brad Jones.
MIAMI 4, MISSISSIPPI STATE 1
MSU (41-21) 000 000 010 --- 1- 5-0UM (40-17-1) 000 010 12x --- 4-10-0WP --- Cesar Carrillo (13-2). LP --- Todd Doolittle (5-8). SV --- Chris Perez (7). HR --- Danny Figueroa (5) . T --- 3:04. ATT --- 2,630.
