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Sports TwitterMiami Notes -- RedHawks had their chances
Friday, May 25, 2007
YPSILANTI, Mich. — The one thing that made the Miami RedHawks' 4-3 loss to Kent State in the Mid-American Conference Tournament on Thursday so tough is the knowledge that they were unable to take advantage of more than one golden opportunity against the Golden Flashes.
"We didn't quite get it done," Miami coach Dan Simonds said. "We hit some balls hard. We just couldn't get it to go our way."
Extras
"We let one slip away here today," senior outfielder Brandon Hillier said. "We had a couple situations and didn't execute."
Kent State zeroed in on Miami starter Connor Graham in the first inning, scoring three runs on four hits, including a two-run single by Jason Patton. Then Graham settled down, holding the Flashes scoreless on just two singles over the next five innings.
Meanwhile, the RedHawks' offense came to life in the fourth.
Brandon Hillier led off against Flashes starter Evan Smith with a single and went to third on a double by Jordan Petraitis. Both crossed the plate when Jeff Carroll lined a double to left-center. Dan Leonard followed with a walk, and a sacrifice bunt by Chris Nadeau put runners on second and third with just one out, but Blake Chaffee lined out to shortstop, and Chris Niro flew out to center.
Miami tied the score in the fifth when Evan Armitage doubled to right-center and came around on a single by Hillier. But KSU center fielder Jared Bartholomew prevented the RedHawks from taking the lead when he made a sensational catch with his back turned to the plate for the third out.
In the bottom of the eighth, Hillier led off with an infield single that was erased when Jordan Petraitis grounded into a double play.
In the bottom of the ninth, the RedHawks had runners on first and second (thanks to walks to Chris Nadeau and Eric Darlage) with two out, but KSU reliever Reid Lamport struck out Josh Hula to end the game.
Battle of Michigans
Jeff Hehr's eighth-inning grand slam was one of four home runs hit by the top-seeded Eastern Michigan Eagles as they eliminated third-seeded Central Michigan 12-6 Thursday.
Kyle Rhoad, Michael Boyd and Derek Lehrman hit solo homers for EMU (31-22).
CMU's Tyler Stovall, the MAC Player of the Year who came into the tournament with a .409 batting average, never got on track and finished 0-for-10.
The Chippewas ended their season 35-21.
First to go
The sixth-seeded Toledo Rockets became the first team to be eliminated when they lost a slugfest to fifth-seeded Northern Illinois 11-10 in a loser's bracket contest early Thursday afternoon.
Looking ahead
The finals are scheduled to start at noon Saturday.
If the team coming out of the loser's bracket wins that game, a second, winner-take-all final would begin at approximately 3:30 p.m., weather permitting. The forecast for Ypsilanti calls for a chance of thunderstorms both today and Saturday.
