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 Stroke of luck Miami uses freak homer to rally past Rice
Posted: Friday June 11, 1999 11:52 PM
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- Bobby Hill was thinking single or double. Thanks to a fan, he ended up with a home run. Hill hit a freak home run and Kris Clute had a legitimate one to lift Miami to a 8-4 victory over Rice in the College World Series opener for both teams Friday night. The top-seeded Hurricanes (47-13) rallied for four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to tie it and took the lead for good in the sixth when Clute homered to right. Miami will meet Alabama on Sunday while the Owls (58-14) will play Oklahoma State in an elimination game. It was a two-run shot by Hill that turned the momentum in favor of the Hurricanes, who are making their sixth appearance in Omaha in six seasons under coach Jim Morris. Hill's drive appeared to be staying in the park when a fan reached over the wall and snagged it. Umpires ruled the ball a home run and the Hurricanes had trimmed the margin to 4-2. "I really didn't see it at all," Hill said. "When I hit it, I knew it had a chance to stay in the park because of the wind. So all I wanted to do was run the bases hard and turn my single into a double." The play seemed to unravel Rice starter Mario Ramos, who had dominated to that point. "I think I had just thrown a lot of pitches and maybe that was starting to get to me," Ramos said. "The home run really didn't get to me. I still felt like we had a lead." Ramos allowed a single by Brian Seever and walked Manny Crespo on five pitches. Ramos then picked off Seever, Crespo taking second on the play. Lale Esquivel hit a sharp liner to third and Rice's Matt Fox made a diving stab only to overthrow first baseman Jacob Baker. Crespo scored and Esquivel went to second. "I was excited when Matt got the ball. I was let down by the error," Ramos said. "But the error really didn't get to me. Not to fault him at all, he made a great play. I thought he was going to follow through. I was disappointed when he didn't get it." Kevin Brown walked on four pitches and Mike Rodriguez singled in Esquivel to tie it 4-4. Ramos was replaced by Jeff Nichols (15-4), who struck out Greg Lovelady to end the inning. In the sixth, Clute homered off Nichols after Morris had called for a bunt early in the at-bat, then took it off when Marcus Nettles was picked off first. "He threw me a fastball and I just got all of it," Clute said. Morris decided to change pitchers just before the game, going with junior right-hander David Gil (12-0) instead of staff ace Alex Santos. It was a gamble that had worked before. On April 17, Gil was given the ball just before a game against Florida State. He responded with a 4-3 victory, allowing eight hits in eight innings and striking out four. This time, it didn't look like a good idea after the Owls built a 4-0 lead and Ramos had a one-hit shutout through 4 1-3 innings. Hill delivered his strange home run and the Hurricanes unlocked the secret to hitting Ramos. "I pitched a guy who was 11-0 and now he's 12-0," Morris said. "It's kind of hard to second-guess that. It was a matter of rest. I just felt Gil had more rest. Both of them had plenty of rest but Gil had more." Miami added an insurance run in the eighth on singles by Seever and Crespo, Esquivel's sacrifice and Brown's sacrifice fly to center. Freshman Vince Vazquez replaced Gil in the seventh, striking out five straight after a groundout. Michael Neu pitched the ninth for Miami.
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