March 30, 2003
Box Score
ATHENS, Ohio - With a 12-10 loss in the first game of the doubleheader against Ohio (13-8, 1-2 Mid-American Conference), the Miami University (9-12-1, 2-1 MAC) baseball team took a 4-2 lead into the eighth inning against the Bobcats before play was suspended due to the darkness. The RedHawks came back on Sunday and finished off the win, allowing only one run to take the 4-3 decision.
Senior Michael Carlin (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon) gave Miami an early 1-0 lead with his second home run of the twinbill in the second inning. Leading off the frame for the RedHawks, Carlin took a 1-0 pitch over the fence for his seventh dinger of the season.
The RedHawks tacked on two more runs to their tally, 3-0, in the fourth inning when senior Zach Schmidt (Cincinnati, Ohio/McNicholas) singled home classmate George Stegmiller (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington) with a single to right field. Stegmiller had reached base on an error by OU's third baseman. The second run of the frame came home after Schmidt made it to second base on his hit on an error by the rigthfielder and sophomore John Slone (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Xavier) led him home with an RBI single to center field.
OU's Ben Crabtree wrecked the shutout that freshman southpaw Graham Taylor (Villa Hills,Ky./Dixie Heights) had been twirling through four innings when he opened the fifth frame with a solo shot over the rigth-field wall. The roundtripper was his eighth of the season and cut the OU deficit to 3-1.
Miami manufactured a run in the sixth stanza when senior David Cook (Columbus, Ohio/St. Francis DeSales) led off with a walk, stole second, moved over to third on Slone's sacrifice bunt and crossed the plate on a fielder's choice. Cook's run gave the Red and White a 4-1 advantage as darkness was becoming a factor in the game.
A solo home run in the bottom of the sixth inning by OU's Phil Sabatini cut the gap to 4-2, but Taylor logged three more outs to finish off the frame.
Stegmiller took to the mound on Sunday to finish off the final two innings, but after recording five outs was relieved in favor of junior Michael Gardner (Louisville, Ky./Louisville) to record the final out. The save was Gardner's third of the season.
