The last time Virginia ace left-hander Pat McAnaney faced the Miami Hurricanes, he only gave up one run. He wasn’t as fortunate this time.
The top-seeded Hurricanes came out swinging early and often. Miami sent 10 hitters to the plate in the top of the first and got four runs on five hits to jump out to an early, 4-0 lead that it would never surrender en route to an 8-4 win over the sixth-seeded Cavaliers.
The win secures the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Division 1 Baseball Tournament which starts with Regionals.
“First of all it's great to win our first ACC Championship,” Hurricanes manager Jim Morris – who was named ACC coach of the year – said. “It's an honor to represent the Atlantic Coast Conference. For our program and our players, I don't think they realized how exciting it would be to win a Championship. I told them it would be a special day today whether we win or lose, and I wanted them to experience and see how special it is. I've been in these games (when I was at Georgia Tech) and I knew it would be a great day for them and it started off with everything from the National Anthem and the jets and everything. Our guys played well and Virginia has an outstanding club and it came down right to the end. Virginia fought hard, our guys played hard. I'm very proud of our players, our coaches, our program and I'm looking forward to the NCAA Tournament.”
Center fielder Blake Tekotte led off the game with an infield single. Second baseman Jemile Weeks walked and, with first baseman Yonder Alonso at the plate, manager Jim Morris ordered a double steal. Tekotte was thrown out at third, but Weeks – which was safe at second base – stole third on the very next pitch. Alonso walked and third baseman Mark Sobolewski followed with an RBI single to right center sending Alonso to third. Ryan Jackson and Dennis Raben also hit RBI singles with runners on first and third in each situation, and Dave DiNatale hit a sacrifice fly to right field to plate another run.
Just like that, Miami right-hander David Gutierrez had a comfortable, 4-0 lead.
The lead was stretched to 7-0 after a three-run third inning in which an RBI double to left-center field with two outs by Tekotte was the hardest hit ball.
Gutierrez pitched a very good game, considering he came in relief a couple of days ago against Georgia Tech in the 15-12 slugfest that the Hurricanes won.
In fact, he cruised through five innings – the limit Morris said he was going to have because of his two innings in relief – and Morris sent him out for the sixth. Gutierrez, who was aided by two double plays, hadn’t thrown a lot of pitches through five (he threw 73 overall), but the wheels started to come off in the sixth inning.
Tyler Cannon – the No. 9 hitter – led off the sixth for Virginia with an earth scorcher to the hole at short. Jackson slid on one leg to make the play, and his throw across the diamond was a hair late and high. Shortstop Greg Miclat followed with a double to left, and David Coleman – which made an AMAZING play against Florida State crashing into the wall and falling into the crowd a couple of days ago – followed with an RBI single to left. David Adams followed that with an RBI single to left and that was it for Gutierrez.
Right-hander Anthony Nalepa followed and it looked promising after the first pitch – inducing a 6-4-3 double play against Jeremy Farrell. However, that was Nalepa’s best pitch of the inning as he allowed an RBI single and an RBI double before getting out of the inning.
“It’s a pitcher’s best friend,” Gutierrez said of the double plays his teammates turned. “You always want to get double plays to get you out of big jams. Keep finding the zone, get ground balls and let the defense work.”
Right-hander Kyle Bellamy pitched the final 2-1/3 innings, allowing two hits and a walk while striking out two and he got Coleman to line out to defensive replacement Adan Severino in left field to secure the win.
“It's a great opportunity for our team and definitely helps us prepare to go to the next step in Regionals,” said DiNatale, who was named tournament MVP. “Competition was just amazing. You had the top three teams in the country in this tournament. I think it's going to help us get us prepared and gave us a little momentum going into regionals. It was a great setting and good thing for our school.”
Miami will be hosting both Regionals and – if they make it that far – Super Regionals at Mark Light Stadium in Coral Gables.
The top-seeded Hurricanes came out swinging early and often. Miami sent 10 hitters to the plate in the top of the first and got four runs on five hits to jump out to an early, 4-0 lead that it would never surrender en route to an 8-4 win over the sixth-seeded Cavaliers.
The win secures the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Division 1 Baseball Tournament which starts with Regionals.
“First of all it's great to win our first ACC Championship,” Hurricanes manager Jim Morris – who was named ACC coach of the year – said. “It's an honor to represent the Atlantic Coast Conference. For our program and our players, I don't think they realized how exciting it would be to win a Championship. I told them it would be a special day today whether we win or lose, and I wanted them to experience and see how special it is. I've been in these games (when I was at Georgia Tech) and I knew it would be a great day for them and it started off with everything from the National Anthem and the jets and everything. Our guys played well and Virginia has an outstanding club and it came down right to the end. Virginia fought hard, our guys played hard. I'm very proud of our players, our coaches, our program and I'm looking forward to the NCAA Tournament.”
Center fielder Blake Tekotte led off the game with an infield single. Second baseman Jemile Weeks walked and, with first baseman Yonder Alonso at the plate, manager Jim Morris ordered a double steal. Tekotte was thrown out at third, but Weeks – which was safe at second base – stole third on the very next pitch. Alonso walked and third baseman Mark Sobolewski followed with an RBI single to right center sending Alonso to third. Ryan Jackson and Dennis Raben also hit RBI singles with runners on first and third in each situation, and Dave DiNatale hit a sacrifice fly to right field to plate another run.
Just like that, Miami right-hander David Gutierrez had a comfortable, 4-0 lead.
The lead was stretched to 7-0 after a three-run third inning in which an RBI double to left-center field with two outs by Tekotte was the hardest hit ball.
Gutierrez pitched a very good game, considering he came in relief a couple of days ago against Georgia Tech in the 15-12 slugfest that the Hurricanes won.
In fact, he cruised through five innings – the limit Morris said he was going to have because of his two innings in relief – and Morris sent him out for the sixth. Gutierrez, who was aided by two double plays, hadn’t thrown a lot of pitches through five (he threw 73 overall), but the wheels started to come off in the sixth inning.
Tyler Cannon – the No. 9 hitter – led off the sixth for Virginia with an earth scorcher to the hole at short. Jackson slid on one leg to make the play, and his throw across the diamond was a hair late and high. Shortstop Greg Miclat followed with a double to left, and David Coleman – which made an AMAZING play against Florida State crashing into the wall and falling into the crowd a couple of days ago – followed with an RBI single to left. David Adams followed that with an RBI single to left and that was it for Gutierrez.
Right-hander Anthony Nalepa followed and it looked promising after the first pitch – inducing a 6-4-3 double play against Jeremy Farrell. However, that was Nalepa’s best pitch of the inning as he allowed an RBI single and an RBI double before getting out of the inning.
“It’s a pitcher’s best friend,” Gutierrez said of the double plays his teammates turned. “You always want to get double plays to get you out of big jams. Keep finding the zone, get ground balls and let the defense work.”
Right-hander Kyle Bellamy pitched the final 2-1/3 innings, allowing two hits and a walk while striking out two and he got Coleman to line out to defensive replacement Adan Severino in left field to secure the win.
“It's a great opportunity for our team and definitely helps us prepare to go to the next step in Regionals,” said DiNatale, who was named tournament MVP. “Competition was just amazing. You had the top three teams in the country in this tournament. I think it's going to help us get us prepared and gave us a little momentum going into regionals. It was a great setting and good thing for our school.”
Miami will be hosting both Regionals and – if they make it that far – Super Regionals at Mark Light Stadium in Coral Gables.
Other regional sites are:
Athens, Ga./University of Georgia
Ann Arbor, Mich./University of Michigan
Baton Rouge, La./LSU
Cary, N.C./University of North Carolina
College Station, Texas/Texas A&M
Conway, S.C./Coastal Carolina
Fullerton, Calif./California State Fullerton
Houston/Rice University
Lincoln, Neb./University of Nebraska
Long Beach, Calif./Long Beach State
Raleigh, N.C./NC State
Stanford, Calif./Stanford
Stillwater, Okla./Oklahoma State
Tallahassee, Fla./Florida State
Tempe, Ariz./Arizona State
The field of 64 teams for Regionals will be announced tomorrow morning.
Quotes and photo courtesy of www.theacc.com.
Athens, Ga./University of Georgia
Ann Arbor, Mich./University of Michigan
Baton Rouge, La./LSU
Cary, N.C./University of North Carolina
College Station, Texas/Texas A&M
Conway, S.C./Coastal Carolina
Fullerton, Calif./California State Fullerton
Houston/Rice University
Lincoln, Neb./University of Nebraska
Long Beach, Calif./Long Beach State
Raleigh, N.C./NC State
Stanford, Calif./Stanford
Stillwater, Okla./Oklahoma State
Tallahassee, Fla./Florida State
Tempe, Ariz./Arizona State
The field of 64 teams for Regionals will be announced tomorrow morning.
Quotes and photo courtesy of www.theacc.com.
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