April 22, 2009

Final Stats

OXFORD, Ohio--Miami University's baseball team (20-16) dropped a 5-1 decision to Xavier University (21-15) on Wednesday evening at McKie Field at Hayden Park.

Freshman center fielder Ryan Curl had a strong day at the plate for the RedHawks, going 3-for-4 and accounting for the Miami's lone RBI. Senior third baseman Jordan Petraitis was the other RedHawk to tally multiple hits, going 2-for-5.

The Musketeers scored two runs to open the game when Ben Thomas drilled a two-run home run over the right centerfield fence, and Xavier never looked back.

The RedHawks scored their lone run in the bottom of the second inning off a Curl RBI single to right centerfield that allowed sophomore shortstop Brad Gschwind to cross home to cut the Xavier lead to one run, 2-1.

Neither team would score again until Xavier tacked on one run in each of the final three innings. In the top of the seventh, Bobby Freking hit a solo home run to left centerfield for the Musketeers. Xavier then added runs in the top of the eighth and ninth innings to make the final score 5-1.

Thomas led the Musketeers at the plate, going 3-for-5 with two RBI and a run scored, and also earned the win on the mound, moving to 1-1 on the season. Thomas pitched 5.0 innings, giving up one run off four hits and striking out four.

Junior Spencer Nelson picked up the loss for the RedHawks, dropping to 0-2 on the season. Nelson pitched 1.0 innings, giving up two runs off one hit.

Miami hits the road for a three-game Mid-American Conference series this weekend as the RedHawks head to Bowling Green. Friday's first pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m., while start times for Saturday and Sunday are slated for 1 p.m.

Notes: Miami's game against Xavier was its "Think Pink" game, and the RedHawks wore pink jerseys to help raise awareness about breast cancer. The jerseys were auctioned off with all proceeds going to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.