Miami Ohio University Athletics
Miami Drops Opener Of NCAA Regional, 9-5 To Arkansas
6/3/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
June 3, 2005
AUSTIN, Texas - Trailing 9-1 entering the top of the ninth inning, the Miami University RedHawks (44-17) banged out four hits and pushed four runs across the plate but it was too little too late as the Arkansas Razorbacks (38-20) held on for a 9-5 victory in the first game of the NCAA Regional Baseball Tournament in Austin, Texas.
Arkansas led off the bottom of the first inning with three consecutive hits off junior lefthander Graham Taylor (Villa Hills, Ky.) that staked the Razorbacks to a 2-0 lead before Miami was able to record an out.
Senior Paul Frietch (Cincinnati, Ohio) wasted little time in Miami's half of the second inning as his fourth home run in as many games cut Arkansas' lead to 2-1. His 15th long ball of the game came on the second pitch of the inning and was never in doubt, clearing the right field fence with room to spare.
The Razorbacks restored their two-run lead in the bottom half of the fourth inning. After loading the bases with two outs, an infield single plated the run from third making it 3-1. An attempted force play at second was tardy and prompted the runner from second to score but he was cut at home down thanks to a strong throw by shortstop Eric Radley (Hermitage, Tenn.).
In the bottom of the seventh, Arkansas tacked on two more runs and chased Graham Taylor from the game in favor of freshman Connor Graham (Bowling Green, Ohio) with one out in the inning. Graham walked the only batter he faced before giving way to junior Sam Shorts (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) with runners on the corners. The first batter Shorts faced sliced a ground-rule double down the leftfield line, scoring one run to make it 6-1 and putting runners at second and third.
Still with one out, sophomore Jeff Day (West Chester, Ohio) came into the game in relief of Shorts and fanned the first batter he faced before recording the final out of the inning on a pop up to second baseman Geoff Orr (Orland Park, Ill.).
Freshman righthander Steve Antoniotti (Farmington Hills, Mich.) entered the game in the bottom of the eighth inning and was touched for three runs on four hits to make the score 9-1 in favor of Arkansas heading into the top of the ninth.
The RedHawks showed signs of life in the top of the ninth as the Red and White loaded the bases with no outs off righthander Charley Boyce. Senior Tyler Tabler (Cincinnati, Ohio) then singled up the middle scoring Frietch and Orr making it 9-3. An infield single by Radley loaded the bases before sophomore Ryne Robinson's (Toledo, Ohio) single to right scored pinch-hitter Jon Franzese (Barrington, Ill.) from third and left the bases juiced.
The Razorbacks recorded the first out of the inning on a questionable check-swing third strike call by the third base umpire before the RedHawks made it 9-5 on John Slone's (Cincinnati, Ohio) fielder's choice groundball. That was as close as Miami would get as James Gilbert retired senior Brian Canada (Fishers, Ind.) for the game's final out.
Miami's next game in the double-elimination tournament will be on Saturday at noon CDT. The RedHawks will face the loser of the Texas-Quinnipiac game being played later this evening.
Notes: SR Paul Frietch extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a home run in the second inning ... it was the fourth game in a row in which he had homered ... JR Graham Taylor became the first member of Miami's three-man starting rotation to be tagged with a loss in a starting role this season ... Miami's record versus SEC opponents this season now stands at 3-2.
