Collegiate Sports

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Two days after the Miami closer’s two-run throwing error cost the Hurricanes a win in their College World Series opener, Gutierrez overcame another shaky ninth inning to seal a 7-5 victory over Florida State on Monday.

“I tell you, my heart can’t take many games like that right there,” Miami coach Jim Morris said. “You don’t know what’s going to happen. You don’t feel safe with a five-run lead going into the ninth inning. They just hit the ball hard and kept battling back.”

Miami, the No. 1 national seed, plays Wednesday against Georgia. The Hurricanes (53-10) have not gone two-and-out in 20 CWS appearances since 1979. FSU (54-14) leaves Omaha after two games for the fourth time in 13 appearances under coach Mike Martin.

The Seminoles had 18 hits—four by national player of the year Buster Posey — but left 17 runners on base to set a CWS record for a nine-inning game.

“If you would have told me before the game that we would have gotten 18 hits and not make an error, I would have taken my chances,” Martin said.

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Jemile Weeks hit his second homer of the CWS and Dennis Raben and Jason Hagerty joined Weeks in driving in two runs apiece for the Hurricanes, who beat their Atlantic Coast Conference rivals for the third time in four meetings.

The Seminoles had no problem hitting the four pitchers they faced, but they had lots of trouble pushing across runs.

They looked as if they might break through in the ninth against Gutierrez, whose two-run throwing error in the ninth inning Saturday was part of a Miami implosion that led to a 7-4 loss to Georgia.

Gutierrez got out of trouble this time after the Seminoles scored three runs on four singles and two walks. After Gutierrez walked Posey to load the bases, he got Jack Rye to ground out to Weeks to end the game.

Gutierrez didn’t appear at the postgame news conference. In two CWS innings, Gutierrez has faced 16 batters and allowed seven hits and seven runs, five earned. He’s walked two and struck out two.

Morris said he hasn’t lost confidence in the Minnesota Twins’ first-round draft pick.

“On Wednesday, ‘Gooch’ has got the ball. He’s done it all year,” Morris said. “If we’re going to have a chance to come back and win this, Carlos Gutierrez is going to be in there at the end. He’s a first-rounder, he’s pitched for us all year, and he’s got great stuff. Certain guys have to get it done, and he’s one of them.”

Dennis Guinn and Posey hit RBI doubles in the first and fourth innings, but the Seminoles stranded at least two runners in six of the first seven innings. They left 11 on base who were in scoring position, including five on third base.

Weeks, the Oakland Athletics’ first-round draft pick, sent Eric Erickson’s pitch into the right-field bleachers with a man on base for his 13th homer in the third inning. Raben followed with a bases-loaded single for a 4-1 lead.

Hagerty’s two-run base hit in the seventh made it 6-2 in the seventh, and Blake Tekotte hit his 13th homer leading off the eighth.

Miami right-hander David Gutierrez, Carlos’ brother, struggled in his short outing. He gave up four hits and walked one. He was knocked out of the game at the start of the second when he was hit in the right biceps by a line drive off the bat of Tommy Oravetz. Morris said David Gutierrez had precautionary X-rays taken and could be available to pitch Wednesday.


Florida State's Tyler Holt, ce…

AP - Jun 16, 6:19 pm EDT
Erickson (9-1) worked five innings, holding the Seminoles to one run on eight hits. He struck out six.

Kyle Bellamy pitched two shutout innings before Carlos Gutierrez entered.

FSU starter Elih Villanueva (7-4) went 3 2-3 innings, giving up four runs on six hits and four walks.

The game probably ends the college career of Posey, the junior catcher who won the Dick Howser Trophy last week as the nation’s top player and was the fifth pick of the draft by the San Francisco Giants.

Posey finished the season leading the nation in batting (.463) and RBIs (93) and second in home runs (26).

“Obviously, I’m a little disappointed, but at the same time, it’s been my goal to get here, and still making it here is a great accomplishment,” Posey said. “We didn’t get too many breaks these past couple of games, but each guy fought until the last out.”