The Miami Diamantes made their debut game a dramatic one Friday night at FIU.

Miami tied the score at 4 in the ninth inning and then pulled out a 5-4 victory over the Seminole Naturals in the 10th as the Florida Winter Baseball League began its initial season.

Tyler Johnson singled to right-center with two out in the 10th and Alex Castellanos just beat the throw, avoiding a lunging tag, to provide the winning run.

``It was a great game for both teams,'' Miami manager Joe Alvarez said. ``We were hoping it wouldn't go too far into extra innings because out pitching was getting thin.''

Alvarez said Johnson was overdue.

``We knew he was better than his first four at-bats,'' Alvarez said.

``He turned out to be the right guy at the right time.''

The game, in front of a crowd of 300, also provided the bizarre. Seminole took a 4-3 lead in the seventh after what appeared to be an inning-ending strikeout. The ball got away from catcher Roberto Sabates, and Lyndon Poole hustled to first. The Diamantes pitcher got credit for the strikeout, but that was little consolation as Poole would score.

Miami tied the score in the ninth on Justin Pickett's deep grounder to short that scored pinch-runner Brian Mathews.

The Florida Winter Baseball League is a new endeavor to develop major-league talent.

It is keyed to young players who don't qualify for the winter leagues in Latin America.

The series against the Naturals continues with two more games at FIU at 7:05 p.m . Saturday and 1:05 p.m. Sunday.

-- BILL VAN SMITH

VOLLEYBALL

• UM def. Virginia Tech 25-17, 25-20, 25-18: Lane Carico had 12 kills and Ali Becker had nine for visiting UM (14-8, 7-5 Atlantic Coast Conference), which handed Virginia Tech (16-6, 6-6) its first home loss of the season.

• FIU def. New Orleans 25-18, 22-25, 25-16, 18-25, 15-7: Jovana Bjelica had 16 kills and 15 digs, Olga Vergun 10 kills and 14 digs and Natalia Valentin 54 assists and 17 digs for visiting FIU (23-2, 12-0 Sun Belt).

• Saint Leo def. Barry 20-25,25-21,17-25,25-13,15-7: Julia Teixiera had 14 kills, Spenser Rigg had 26 digs and Libby Walter had 35 assists and 15 digs for host Barry (11-10, 2-7 Sunshine State Conference). Saint Leo is 24-2 and 11-0.

WOMEN'S SOCCER

• FIU 1, FAU 0: Amy Jackson scored for FIU (11-5-3, 9-1-1), which clinched the top seed in the Sun Belt Conference tournament.

The Golden Panthers are the first team to jump from the seventh seed in the tournament the previous year to the top spot.

• Virginia Tech 2, UM 1: Emily Jukich scored with seven seconds left to lift host Virginia Tech (13-5-0, 6-3-0 Atlantic Coast Conference). UM (8-9-1, 3-5-1) took a 1-0 lead on Brittney Steinbruch's goal with 1:25 remaining in the first half.

MEN'S TENNIS

• UM: The Hurricanes won four singles matches and a doubles match against UCF on the first day of the USF Fall Invitational in Tampa. UM, UCF, USF and LSU are competing in the three-day invitational. Waylon Chin, Christian Blocker, David Simon and Ignacio Taboada won at singles, and Carl Sundberg and Hector Nieto at doubles for the Hurricanes.

ROWING

• UM: Hurricanes coach Andrew Carter said that Saturday's scrimmage against Nova Southeastern, Barry and Florida Tech has been canceled because of travel discrepancies and illness involving the other teams.

The race was scheduled to be held at 9 a.m. on the Indian Creek Waterway in North Miami Beach.

The scrimmage is not set to be rescheduled. UM holds its first official race Nov. 7-8 at the Head of the Hooch Regatta in Chattanooga, Tenn.

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