Posted: March 4, 2008
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The Mountain Hawks played one of the nation’s top teams, in No. 8 Miami, and hung with the Hurricanes for most of the game, but in the end their depth proved to be too much, as Lehigh fell 9-2 Monday night in Coral Gables, Florida. Austin Borden drove in the only Lehigh runs of the game, to pick up his fifth and sixth RBI of the season. The Brown and White fall to 4-6 on the season, while the win improves Miami’s record to 6-1.
The Hurricanes scored the first run of the game on an RBI double to right center by Mark Sobolewski in the bottom of the first. Andrew Berger shut down the Miami bats over the next two innings, and the Mountain Hawks took their first lead of the game in the top of the fourth.
After a leadoff groundout by Joe Ercolano, the next batters, Brendan McGaheran and Matt Reitz reached base via singles. Miami starter Jason Santana got Logan Marshall to pop-out to shortstop and it seemed as if the Hurricanes would escape from the innings without any damage.
However, Santana unleashed a wild pitch and McGaheran and Reitz moved up one base, putting runners on second and third with two away. Borden knocked a single into left center and both runners came around to score, to give the Brown and White a 2-1 lead.
Miami tied the game in the bottom of the fourth on a solo homerun to left field by Ryan Jackson. The Hurricanes rolled off seven runs over the next two innings to put the game out of reach, and handed the Mountain Hawks their sixth loss on the year.
Andrew Berger (2-1) was credited with his first loss of the season, pitching 4.2 innings, surrendering five runs on seven hits, while striking out four. Santana (2-0) earned the win for Miami, giving up two runs on four hits in 5.1 innings.
The Mountain Hawks return to the diamond on Wednesday for a game against Big East power Notre Dame. The game is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. from Palm Beach, Fla.