May 1, 2004

Box Score

TOLEDO, Ohio - Too many stranded runners during crunch time spelled defeat for the Miami (26-14, 8-4 Mid-American Conference) baseball team as it fell in 10 innings at Toledo, 5-4. The RedHawks failed to score with runners in scoring position the last two innings in their fourth league loss of the season.

Both teams notched runs in the first inning and then went down 1-2-3 in the second inning to head into the third frame in a 1-1 tie. An RBI double in the fifth inning by junior Paul Frietch (Cincinnati, Ohio/Montgomery) knocked in the RedHawk's second run of the game to take a 2-1 lead.

Freshman Jeff Day (West Chester, Ohio/Lakota East) ran into a little bit of trouble in the bottom of the fifth inning when two errors helped UT (13-28, 4-10 MAC) tally two runs. With the bases loaded and zero outs, Day struck out Aaron Rouser for the first out and then got Shawn Dobson to ground out into what should have been a sure double play. However, a throwing error to first allowed two runners to score, giving the Rockets their first lead of the series, 3-2.

One swing in the top of the sixth inning tied the game up for the RedHawks, 3-3. Junior Sam Sellery (Carmel, Ind./Cathedral) took the 2-1 offering from UT's Kurt Woeste deep over the rightfield wall for his fifth home run of the season.

Frietch ripped his second double of the game to lead off the seventh inning and then was sacrificed over to third. Sophomore Geoff Orr (Orland Park, Ill./Carl Sandburg) beat out the throw from the UT shortstop for an RBI infield single, which gave the Red and White a 4-3 lead.

Two big events occurred in the seventh inning for the RedHawks. The first was when Day struck out his sixth and seventh batters of the game, setting a personal game-high for strikeouts in a contest. Junior John Slone (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Xavier) took care of the second event by notching a single to extend his hitting streak to 17 games.

UT's Rouser led off the bottom of the eighth stanza with a single, but managed to stretch it into a triple when the ball took an erratic bounce over the RedHawk rightfielder's head and rolled all the way to the fence. This marked the end of the afternoon for Day as Miami called upon senior reliever Chad Reineke (Ayersville, Ohio/Defiance). The first batter to face Reineke, UT's Sean Dobson, knocked an RBI single in right field to tie the game, 4-4.

The Red and White threatened to take the lead in the ninth frame when it loaded the bases with only out, but Toledo's Woeste had different ideas. Woeste forced junior Courtney Campbell (Evansville, Ind./Lincoln CC) to pop out and then struck out freshman Brandon Hillier (Hinsdale, Ill./Hinsdale Central) to escape the jam. Reineke took care of business in the bottom of the ninth by striking out the side.

After stranding four base runners in the ninth and 10th frames, Miami's mistakes finally haunted it when Toledo won the game with an RBI single in the bottom of the 10th inning. With two outs and runners on second and third, Hurst ripped a line drive to right field that flew over the fielder's head to score Resendez from third for the game-winning run, 5-4.

The RedHawks and Toledo meet again tomorrow for the final of the weekend series at 1 p.m.