UM baseball team gets 4-3 win vs. FAU despite stranding 14 runners
Three times, the 11th-ranked Miami Hurricanes loaded the bases against No. 21 FAU with two outs Wednesday at Mark Light Field.
Three times, they failed to bring any of those nine runners home.
The frustration finally ended in the bottom of the 10th, when George Iskenderian laced a single to left field to drive home Ricky Eusebio for a 4-3 walk-off Hurricanes victory.
UM, 18-2 at home, is 25-9 overall and on a five-game win streak.
The Owls, who beat UM in Boca Raton earlier this season, dropped to 26-7.
With one out in the 10th, Eusebio walked and went to third on Garrett Kennedy’s single to right. Seth McGarry, FAU’s sixth pitcher, entered the game only to give up the game-winning single to Iskenderian, who reached base five times with three hits and two walks.
“Me and Zack [Collins] were talking before the at-bat,” Iskenderian said with a smile. “We figured he was going to come with the first pitch slider. He probably wanted me, not Zack. I just didn’t want Zack to win it, so I had to get the hit there. Otherwise, I’d have to hear it from him for the next three or four days.’’
Collins tied the game with an RBI single in the sixth — when UM scored three runs.
Closer Bryan Garcia (4-1), UM’s fifth pitcher of the night, struck out all three batters he faced in the 10th for the victory.
Devon Carr (0-2) took the loss, with starter Sean Labsan holding the Canes scoreless for five innings.
After nine innings, UM (25-9) was 1 for 9 (.111) with runners in scoring position. FAU (26-7) was 2 for 9 (.222).
The Canes, who face Atlantic Coast Conference foe Virginia Tech at Mark Light Field in a weekend series, stranded 14 runners.
FAU got on the scoreboard first with three runs in the fifth. With two outs, CJ Chatham (fielder’s choice) went to second on a walk to Stephen Kerr. Brett Lashley singled up the middle to drive home Chatham, followed by a perfectly placed double in the left-field corner by Brendon Sanger, to knock home Kerr and Lashley.
This story was originally published April 8, 2015 at 11:14 PM with the headline "UM baseball team gets 4-3 win vs. FAU despite stranding 14 runners."