States Game

[rebelduckaholic]

Miami 4, Mississippi State 1

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) -- Cesar Carrillo struck out nine and allowed just one run on four hits through 7 2-3 innings and Danny Figueroa went 3-for-3 with a home run and three stolen bases as host Miami beat Mississippi State 4-1 in a NCAA regional game Saturday.

Miami's hard-throwing ace improved to 13-2 on the season and 25-2 all-time with the win, and the top-seeded Hurricanes (40-17-1) moved to 80-11 in postseason play at Mark Light Field.

``That was a great game,'' said Miami coach Jim Morris. ``Another outstanding effort from Cesar. Danny Figueroa was on base all night, and stole everything but the rosin bag.''

``You take Danny Figueroa out of the picture, you take Cesar Carrillo out of the picture, we probably win the game,'' said Mississippi State coach Ron Polk.

The loss ended a five-game winning streak for No. 2 seed Mississippi State (41-21), who now must beat third-seed Florida Atlantic (37-23) at 3 p.m. Sunday to get another shot at Miami Sunday night.

``We can come back in this thing,'' said Polk. ``We've got enough pitching to get through this. We all want to play Miami again.''

Carrillo and Mississippi State starter Todd Doolittle (5-8) engaged in a tight pitchers' duel through six innings, with the Hurricanes drawing first blood on a Jon Jay RBI single in the fifth inning.

Miami managed only six hits off Doolittle in his six innings of work, but the senior walked four, hit one and threw a wild pitch. Doolittle's high pitch count - he threw 131 pitches through six innings - forced Mississippi State coach Ron Polk to pull him in favor of Mike Valentine heading into the seventh.

Miami immediately loaded the bases with no outs against Valentine, but could score only one run on a sacrifice fly RBI by Danny Valencia.

Mississippi State pulled to within 2-1 and knocked Carrillo out of the game on a sacrifice fly RBI by Brad Jones in the eighth. But Miami closer Chris Perez ended the inning by getting Brad Corley to ground out, and Figueroa sent a 1-1 fastball from Valentine over the left field wall to give Miami a 4-1 lead heading into the ninth.

``I was just looking to put the ball in play, get some insurance runs,'' said Figueroa.

Perez allowed just one hit in the ninth for his seventh save of the season. Miami now must win just one more game to advance to the Super Regionals.

The Hurricanes will play the winner of Sunday's Mississippi State-FAU game in a game scheduled for 7 p.m. Sunday night.

``It puts you in the driver's seat, no question about that,'' said Morris. ``You've got to take advantage of the opportunity tomorrow night, come out and play hard and put it away.''

[Greenhead22]

Yep, State's gotta get in gear tomorrow, take care of FAU early. Miami has zero pitching now, will be pitching by committee for 2 games with Carrillo throwing today.

[Po Monkey Lounger]

Watched a good portion of the MSU-Miami game on tv. State played a pretty good game, but Miami was just a little better.

Not real impressed with the Miami baseball facility ------on tv it looks dated and bush league. I would have thought they would have a much nicer facility with all their titles and runs to the CWS. Hate the look of all those ads on the outfield fence.

Dogs still have a chance. Will most likely beat Fl. Atl. again today, then get another shot at Miami. If Dogs don't run out of gas today, they could get back in the hunt for a title shot on Monday. Deepest pitching staffs will have the advantage from this point forward.

[rebelduckaholic]

Well from what I have seen in the recent weeks State has the deepest pitching staff.

[Greenhead22]

Canes up 6 zip in the 3rd, not looking good.

[Greenhead22]

Canes prevail 10-4, was a great finish to end the season though.