RALEIGH, N.C. – Jemile Weeks had four hits and drove in four
runs to lead Miami past NC State 12-5 Friday night, but Weeks and the Miami
offense was only part of the story. NC State’s defense committed five errors
leading to seven unearned runs as the Hurricanes took the first game of a
three-game Atlantic Coast Conference series Friday night at Doak Field at Dail
Park.
The game figured to be a headliner of a game with
lefthanders Eric Surkamp of NC State and Eric Erickson of Miami facing each
other. Erickson piched six strong innings to hold up his end of the bargain.
Surkamp, a 2007 All-ACC selection and Team USA member who brought a 2.30 ERA
into the game, was uncharacteristically wild, walking five in 2 1/3 innings.
Surkamp wound up allowing seven runs on six hits, but four of his runs were
unearned due to three NC State errors. The deeper into the game Surkamp worked,
the more trouble he had getting his offspeed pitches over the plate for
strikes. The Hurricanes took advantage by sitting on his fastball for six hits
and taking the offspeed stuff for walks. It was that kind of night for normally
reliable Surkamp, who fell to 1-2 with the loss.
Surkamp retired the first two batters in both the first and
second innings, but then struggled as the next four men reached base in each
frame. Joey Terdoslavich singled home a run in the first, and Weeks and Jason
Hagerty drove in runs with base hits in the second as the Canes took a 3-0
lead.
The roof caved in on Surkamp in the third. Mark Sobolewski
and Adam Severino led off with singles, and Surkamp moved the runners to second
and third by throwing a pickoff attempt into center field for an error. Ryan
Jackson hit a fly ball to shallow right that second baseman Dallas Poulk got to
and dropped for an error. Sobolewski scored on the play, which was ruled a
sacrifice fly. Jackson stole second and Blake Tekotte walked to load the bases.
Drew Taylor came in to face Weeks, who hit a fly ball to left that Devon
Cartwright caught and dropped for a two-run error. That error also wound up
being a sacrifice fly.
That made it 7-0, and Yonder Alonso’s RBI single in the top
of the fifth off Taylor drove in an unearned run and gave the Hurricanes an 8-0
lead that looked very safe with
Erickson (4-0) on the mound. Erickson scattered four hits over the first
five innings before finally allowing a run on Russell Wilson’s pinch-single to
right, driving in Matt Payne, who led off the inning with a single.
Erickson came out after six, and the Miami bullpen
immediately ran into trouble. The Canes sent four pitchers to the mound in the
bottom of the seventh, and three of them combined to give up four runs on two
hits in two-thirds of an inning. Anthony Nalepa faced two hitters, Cartwright
and Poulk, and walked them on nine pitches. P.J. Fisher saw three hitters,
retiring one and surrendering a two-run single to Jeremy Synan. David Gutierrez
faced two hitters, one of whom, pinch-hitter Nick Stanley, ripped a two-run
triple to right-center to trim the Miami lead to three runs at 8-5.
Taylor and Joey Cutler pitched very well in relief of
Surkamp. Taylor allowed just the one unearned run on two hits in 2 2/3 innings,
and Cutler retired the side in order in the sixth and seventh before allowing a
run in the eighth on a single to right by Weeks, a walk to Alonzo and a single
to right by Hagerty. Payne threw a strike to home plate, but the ball slipped
out of Stanley’s glove after he made the tag and Weeks was safe.
The Canes added three more in the top of the ninth on a walk
and a stolen base by Dave DiNatale, an RBI single by Jackson, an error by Joe
Florio on a grounder hit to second base by Blake Tekotte, and a two-run triple
by Weeks.
Game two of the series will be at 2 p.m. on Saturday. The
game will be broadcast live on WKNC-FM (88.1) and on the internet on gopack.com
through Pack Pass.
Courtesy: NC State
