Baseball Falls to ‘Canes, 5-3

April 2, 1999

FORT MILL, S.C. – The sixth ranked University of Miami baseball team (23-6) defeated Clemson (16-12), 5-3, Friday night at the Knights Castle outside Charlotte, NC.

All-American Alex Santos (7-1) allowed one run on five hits over eight innings to earn the win. Santos held a shutout through seven innings, striking out eight and walking one. With the performance, Santos improved his earned run average to 1.82.

Tiger right-hander Ryan Mottl (2-3) took the loss. Mottl allowed four runs on seven hits over eight innings. He struck out six, yet walked five.

Miami opened the scoring with a lone run in the first inning. Shortstop Bobby Hill led off with a single to center field, then stole second. Left fielder Marcus Nettles hit an infield single to move Hill to third. Third baseman Lale Esquivel proceeded to drive in Hill with a sacrifice fly to right, his team-leading fourth sac fly of the year.

UM added three runs on two home runs in the sixth inning. With one out, first baseman Kevin Brown hit his team-best 13th home run of the year, a solo shot to right-center. Following a two-out walk by right fielder Mark Walker, freshman centerfielder Mike Rodriguez hit his first career home run to center making the score 4-0.

With the home runs, the Hurricanes have now hit a home run in 13 consecutive games, one game shy of the school record of 14 straight games with a home run set last season. Friday also marked the 16th time this season that UM has registered multi-home runs in a game.

Clemson broke the Miami shutout with one run in the eighth off Santos. Right fielder Justin Singleton led off the inning with a home run to center, his first of the year. Left fielder Brian Holstad then singled to center. Center fielder Henri Stanley followed with a hard hit shot to the gap in right-center that Rodriguez dove to catch. Santos then forced third baseman Khalil Greene into an inning-ending double play to end the Tiger threat.

UM added an insurance run in the ninth as Brown hit a run-scoring double driving in pinch hitter Brian Seever.

In the bottom of the ninth, Clemson narrowed Miami’s lead to two runs on a two-run home run by Patrick Boyd. Miami closer Mike Neu closed out the inning with two strikeouts to end the game.

The series resumes Saturday at 3:00 p.m. WINZ (940 AM) and WVUM (90.5 FM) will each broadcast the game live.