Coral Gables, Fla. (March 4, 2009)—No. 8 Miami defeated Mount St. Mary’s, 14-3, in a non-conference matchup at Alex Rodriguez Park on Wednesday night. 

The Mount jumped on top with three runs in the top of the third inning.  Matt Staso and Zach Helman each reached on errors to set the inning up for the Mountaineers.  Andres Tamayo was hit by a pitch to load the bases with no outs and Staso came home to score on a Buddy Fields sacrifice fly.  Helman then scored on an error by the first baseman on a strikeout and throw to first.  Jacob Darr then singled home Tamayo for the three-run lead.

The Hurricanes (6-2) answered with three runs in the bottom half of the inning to even the score.  Mount starter Costa Kapothanasis loaded the bases on a walk and two hit batsmen.  A wild pitch allowed the first Miami run to score and a pair of sacrifice flies evened the game at 3-3.

Vickash Ramjit and Nathan Melendres recorded back-to-back RBI singles in the bottom of the fourth to give Miami a two-run advantage.  The Hurricanes took control with a four-run fifth.  Harold Martinez had an RBI double and later scored on a wild pitch for a 7-3 lead.  Ramjit added an RBI single and Melendres a sacrifice fly to round out the scoring in the inning.

Dave DiNatale’s three-run home in the sixth and Martinez a two-run blast in the seventh to give the Hurricanes a comfortable 14-3 lead.

Kapothanasis allowed seven runs with a pair of strikeouts in four innings to take the loss.  Fields, Darr and Staso each had a hit in the game for the Mount.

The Mount will face New York Tech on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at the Palm Beach Challenge in West Palm Beach, Fla.