Miami University
College of Charleston
Miami Falls 6-2 in Season Opener
2/20/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Feb. 20, 2009
CHARLESTON, S.C. - Despite scoring the game's first run, Miami University's baseball team dropped a 6-2 decision in its season opener at The College of Charleston on Friday evening. A four-run fifth inning, coupled with 13 hits for the Cougars propelled them to the season-opening win.
The RedHawks collected two of their seven hits for the game in the first inning but were unable to convert any into runs. After sitting down the Cougars in order in the bottom of the inning on a fly out and two strike outs, Miami put the first run on the board in the top of the second when a solo home run down the right field line with two outs by Eric Darlage gave the RedHawks a 1-0 edge. The College of Charleston evened the score in the second when a Joey Bergman RBI double sent Mike Hentz home to knot the game, 1-1.
The Cougars threatened to take a lead in the bottom of the fourth, but a strong defensive effort by the RedHawks with bases loaded and no outs prevented the Cougars from doing any damage. The College of Charleston, however, capitalized on a crucial throwing error with bases loaded in the fifth inning and went on to pile on four runs to capture a 5-1 lead.
Miami shrunk the gap in the top of the sixth when a Tommy Nurre double to center field allowed Jordan Petraitis to score to close within three runs, 5-2.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, The College of Charleston tacked on one more run when Joash Brodin homered to right field to extend the Cougars' lead to 6-2, which would be the final margin.
Matt Erwood picked up the loss on the mound for the RedHawks, giving up four runs off nine hits and striking out three batters in 4.1 innings of work. Jesse Simpson recorded the win for the Cougars, giving up two runs off six hits while striking out six over 6.0 innings, and Owen Brittle earned the save for the Cougars, throwing three innings in relief.
Brodin paced the Cougars at the plate, going 3-for-4 with three RBIs and one run. Bergman also recorded three hits in four at-bats.
Nurre and Chris Nadeau went 2-for-4 from the plate with Nurre recording one of Miami's two RBIs, while Petraitis went 1-for-2 with a run.
Miami and The College of Charleston play the second game of a three-game weekend series at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 21.
