May 21, 2009

Final Stats

CHILICOTHE, Ohio - Senior Jordan Petraitis (Canal Fulton, Ohio/Manchester) had two hits in the fourth inning -- including his first grand slam of the season-- lifting No. 5 seed Miami to a 17-4 victory over No. 1 Bowling Green Thursday afternoon at the Mid-American Conference Tournament. The elimination-game win puts the RedHawks into a 9 a.m. battle tomorrow morning against Central Michigan in another elimination game.

Petraitis keyed Miami's 16-hit attack by going 3-for-4 with four runs scored and a career-high five runs batted in. Tommy Nurre (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Xavier) and Ryan Curl (Columbus, Ohio/DeSales) also went 3-for-4 with Nurre and Eric Darlage (Powell, Ohio/Olentangy Liberty) both driving in four runs.

Miami (29-24) jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second when Nurre hit the inning's first pitch over the fence in right center. He hit another home run in the seventh inning -- his third in the last two days -- to move into fifth place on the Miami single-season list and seventh in the career record book.

Bowling Green answered right back in the third, tying the game at 1-1 with a leadoff single, sacrifice bunt and two-out RBI double. The Falcons went up 2-1 on a leadoff home run in the fourth, but Miami broke the game open in the bottom of the frame.

The RedHawks scored eight runs on seven hits in the inning to surge ahead 9-2. Petraitis started things off with a single up the middle, then Nadeau was hit by a pitch. Nurre loaded the bases with a single to right, before Darlage plated two runs with another single to right. After a sacrifice put runners at second and third, Nurre scored on an error by the Falcon third baseman, making the score 4-2. Curl delivered an infield single for a 5-2 advantage before another hit batter loaded the bases for a second time.

Coming back to the plate for the second time in the frame, Petratis turned Falcon reliever Dusty Hawk's first pitch around for the grand slam, pushing the advantage to 9-2. The eight-run outburst equaled the largest of the season as the RedHawks scored the same number in the first inning against Eastern Michigan on March 27.

Bowling Green tried to claw back, using a two-run home run in the fifth to close to 9-4, but Miami scored three in the sixth and five in the seventh, including three on the second Nurre home run, to extend the rout.

Tyler Melling threw his first career complete game -- and first by a RedHawk this season -- to improve to 6-3. He allowed just three earned runs and scattered seven hits, while striking out eight.

Bowling Green's Matt Malewitz (5-3) took the loss after giving up eight runs (seven earned) in 3.2 innings. The regular-season champions end the season with a 28-21 record.

Notes: Miami's 2-4 hitters (Petraitis, Nadeau, Nurre, Darlage) combined to bat 10-for-17 with three home runs and 15 RBIs... With his two-out single in the bottom of the fifth inning, Brad Gschwind extended his hitting streak to a team-leading 17 games. It is the longest such streak by a RedHawk this season... Nurre passed Clark Mace (1998-01) and David Cook (2000-03) on the career home run list and Tim Clark (1989 and 1989) and Paul Frietch (2005) on the season chart. It was the third multi-home run game of the season for Nurre with two of the three coming against Bowling Green (April 24). The Cincinnati, Ohio native has pounded Bowling Green with four home runs and eight RBIs this season in four games ... The 17 runs scored by Miami are the second most posted by the team this season.