May 18, 2006
ATLANTA – John Jay and Danny Valencia drove in two runs each and Dannis Raben added a home run to lead No. 16 Miami (35-17, 17-11 ACC) to an 8-7 win over No. 8 Georgia Tech (40-14, 17-11) in the opener of a three-game Atlantic Coast Conference series on Thursday night at Russ Chandler Stadium.
Tommy Giles and Roger Tomas went 3-for-4 to lead Miami’s 14-hit attack. Jay, Raben and Jemile Weeks added two hits each.
Miami starter Scott Maine (10-2) worked 5.2 innings and allowed five runs on seven hits to earn the win.
Chris Perez allowed two runs and struck out five batters over the final 2.1 innings and picked up his team-leading 11th save of the year.
Tech starter Blake Wood (8-4) was charged with eight runs on 11 hits in six-plus innings of work.
Luke Murton and Wally Crancer led Georgia Tech with two hits apiece.
The Hurricanes manufactured a run in the top of the first inning to take a 1-0 lead. Weeks legged out an infield single and Giles drew a walk to lead off the game. After a Jay sacrifice bunt, Valencia plated Weeks with a RBI groundout.
Miami added two runs on four hits in the second inning to make the score 3-0. Eddy Rodriguez and Raben led off the second inning with singles, while Richard O’Brien had a sacrifice fly and Giles had a two-out RBI single.
The Hurricanes extended the lead to 6-0 with three runs in the fourth inning. Raben led off with a solo home run, his fourth of the year, and after Roger Tomas and Giles singled, Jay hit a two-run double off the center field wall.
Georgia Tech broke through in the fifth inning with a two-run homer from Mike Trapani, his third of the season, that made the score 6-2.
The Yellow Jackets added three runs in the sixth inning to pull within 6-5. After Whit Robbins started the rally with a one-out single, Luke Murton and Wally Crancer followed with back-to-back RBI doubles. Crancer scored the third run of the inning on a wild pitch.
Miami answered with two runs in the seventh inning to chase Wood from the game and make the score 8-5. Giles led off the inning with a double and Jay followed with a double. Valencia had a RBI single and Yonder Alonso added a RBI groundout.
The Yellow Jackets pulled to within 8-7 with two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning. A double and two walks loaded the bases with one out before Matt Wieters forced in a run with a walk and Jeff Kindel had a RBI groundout. Tech had runners on second and third bases with two outs, but Perez got out of the inning when he snared a sharp ground ball off the bat off Wes Hodges.
Perez struck out the side in the ninth inning to close out the game.
Georgia Tech and Miami continue the series on Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 1 p.m.
