April 1, 2008

Box Score

Coral Gables, FL - No. 2 Miami overcame an early four-run deficit to top visiting Florida Atlantic 16-7 Tuesday night at Mark Light Field.

Tom Hatcher hit a first inning grand slam for Florida Atlantic (16-10) and Travis Ozga went 4-for-5.

Miami (22-2) improved its home record to 18-1. The Hurricanes will enter its weekend series with Clemson with a slim lead on No. 3 North Carolina in the ACC's Coast Division standings.

Hatcher's first inning grand slam off the leftfield scoreboard came on a 1-1 pitch from UM starter John Housey (3-0). Jeremy Griffiths' sixth double and the first of Ozga's four hits helped load the bases for Hatcher, who hit his fifth home run of the year and first slam as an Owl.

The early scoring continued in the bottom of the first, with UM plating three off FAU starting pitcher Jeff Beliveau (1-2), highlighted by Dennis Raben's RBI double to centerfield.

Beliveau settled in, keeping UM off the scoreboard in both the second and third innings, but ran into trouble in the fourth. A leadoff base hit and a subsequent Dave DiNatale home run gave the homestanding Hurricanes its first lead, 5-4.

Miami went on to score in each of the next five innings. A five-run UM sixth made the score 12-4, putting the game out of reach for an FAU club that has lost four straight. It is the first four-game slide for FAU since late February-early March of 2006.

DiNatale had a career-high three hits to pace Miami. The Canes' 15 runs is its fourth-highest total of the season.

Both teams utilized a number of reserve players in the late innings.

Six different FAU pitchers combined to issue 11 walks, the fourth time this season FAU has allowed 10 or more walks in a game.

A pivotal three-game Sun Belt Conference series awaits the Owls in Mobile, Alabama this weekend. FAU is scheduled to play three games against South Alabama at USA's Stanky Field. The series begins Friday night at 6 p.m. CT.