University of North Carolina Athletics
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Miami
No. 13 Miami Upends No. 21 Carolina 7-5
April 16, 2010 | Baseball
April 16, 2010
CORAL GABLES, FLA. - Miami prevailed through a wild first five innings to upend No. 21 North Carolina 7-5 Friday night in front of 3390 fans at Alex Rodriguez Park. Matt Harvey suffers the tough luck loss as Carolina falls to 22-14 and 6-10 in the ACC. Miami's Chris Hernandez earned the win improving the Hurricanes to 25-9 and 12-4 in league play.
Harvey (4-2) allowed seven runs, five earned, while striking out six over seven innings of work. The junior, who did not allow a single home run entering the game, gave up three solo shots to the Hurricanes. Harvey retired the last nine batters he faced in a row and fanned four consecutive Hurricane hitters at one point.
Michael Morin tossed one shutout inning, striking out two Miami batters. All 12 of the game's runs were scored in the first five innings, which featured a combined four errors and four home runs. All four home runs were solo shots and each one led off an inning for their respective teams.
Hernandez (5-2) allowed five runs, three earned, in five innings of work. Relievers E.J. Encinhosa and Daniel Miranda combined to throw four shutout innings. Miranda earned his second save of the season.
Carolina outhit the Hurricanes nine to eight, but left seven runners on base. Levi Michael led the Carolina attack with two hits, one home run and three runs scored. The three runs scored match a career-best for Michael. Six different Tar Heels registered a hit, including two hits and two RBI from Brian Goodwin. Ben Bunting and Dillon Hazlett each added one RBI.
The Tar Heels got off to a rocky start in the first frame. Two base runners caught stealing ended any threat Carolina would pose in the top of the inning.
A leadoff home run that just nicked the left field foul pole off the bat of Zeke DeVoss gave the Hurricanes a quick lead. After a walk and Carolina error, Yasmani Grandal then doubled down the left field line to score two more Hurricanes.
After another Miami hit, Harvey then induced a double play ball to earn Carolina's first two outs. The second Tar Heel error of the inning allowed one more run to score, as the Hurricanes jumped out to a 4-0 lead.
Carolina responded in the top of the second, scoring one run on three hits. A Michael double lead off the inning and he later scored on a Hazlett RBI sacrifice fly. A Ryan Graepel double would of scored another Carolina run, but it was ruled a ground-rule double preventing Goodwin to score. Graepel's ball trickled through a gate down the right field line, proving to be an important play and leaving the Heels trailing 4-1.
Harvey settled down in the second frame to strike out the side. The junior has fanned the side six different times this season.
The Tar Heels continued to chip away at the Miami led cutting it to 4-3 in the top of the third. After a two-out Hurricane error, Goodwin drove two Tar Heels in on a double down the left field line.
Grandal laced a leadoff opposite field home run over the left field fence to extend the Miami lead to 5-3 in the bottom of the third. Harvey earned a fly out and two groundouts to end the inning.
Carolina and Miami traded runs in the fourth and fifth frames. The Tar Heels manufactured one run on a Bunting infield single that scored Graepel with two outs. The Hurricanes plated one unearned run on an odd error. After first baseman Jesse Wierzbicki dove to catch a pop out bunt, he then attempted to double up the runner at first. Miami's DeVoss ran into Hazlett covering first allowing the ball to sail into right field as he advanced to third. DeVoss later scored on a single off the bat of Scott Lawson.
The two teams again traded runs in the fifth inning, both courtesy of solo home runs. Michael mashed a towering home run, his second of the year, over the left field fence. Scott Lawson equaled Michael with a solo blast of his own off the scoreboard in left. Miami led 7-5 after an eventful five frames.
Harvey pitched through the seventh inning, retiring the last nine batters he faced. Morin looked terrific in the eighth, as the Carolina staff did not allow a single base runner after the solo home run from Lawson.
Carolina could not score any runs after an unfortunate double play in the seventh ended a threat. The Tar Heels stranded one in the eighth as Miranda disrupted the Heels' timing to save the victory for Miami.
The two teams resume their series tomorrow at 7 p.m. from Alex Rodriguez Park.
