2003 College World Series Game 7
Complete CWS Index

By John Manuel
June 16, 2003

OMAHA--Only once in its history at the College World Series, which spans 20 trips, has Miami come to Rosenblatt Stadium for just a two-game stay. That happened in 1979, three years before the program won the first of its four national championships.

And the young 2003 Hurricanes team didn't want to start any new trends. Behind six strong innings by righthander Vince Bongiovanni and precise execution on offense, the 'Canes held off a gritty Southwest Missouri State team to claim a 7-5 win Monday afternoon. The victory kept Miami alive to face the loser of the Rice-Texas game tomorrow, while eliminating the Bears in two games in their first-ever trip to the CWS.

Bongiovanni went six-plus innings, scattering nine hits while giving up only one earned run. The Bears got the leadoff man on board via a hit in six of the seven innings he started, but only once did the Bears follow that up with another hit, and that was in the seventh. When Bongiovanni (8-4) came out, reliever George Huguet got SMS' best hitter, Dant'e Brinkley, to hit into a double play and struck out Brooks Colvin to escape the jam.

"I thought Vince pitched the best game of his career in a pressure situation," said Miami coach Jim Morris, who chose Bongiovanni over lefty Brandon Camardese late Sunday. "We watched a lot of tape with (assistant coaches) J.D. (Arteaga) and Gino (DiMare), and we thought with all of their fastball hitters and a lot of righthanded hitters, it would be better to pitch Vince and save Camardese for the next game."

Bongiovanni had plenty of support as Miami got a pair of solo homers, from Joey Hooft in the second and Jim Burt in the sixth, and scratched out another pair of runs against SMS starter Brad Ziegler (12-2). Burt's home run ended his 0-for-16 streak in the postseason and was his 11th of the season.

Miami manufacture a run in the third when Richard Giannotti singled, moved to third on Ziegler's errant pickoff throw to first and scored on Adam Ricks' groundout. In the fourth, Miami loaded the bases on a pair of singles and a walk and scored on a passed ball.

"When I got in trouble, it was because I got behind in the count," Ziegler said. "They capitalized whenever I made a mistake. The first home run (Hooft's), I left a 1-2 curveball up in the zone. You can't make those pitches if you expect to keep the game low-scoring."

Morris had excoriated his team in the postgame Saturday for five errors and a lack of execution in a 13-2 loss to Texas, Miami's worst in CWS play in 20 trips. But he said he spent the interim day making sure his young team's confidence wasn't crushed, and they responded with execution. The Hurricanes made only one error, which cost them an unearned run in the fifth, and turned a pair of double plays in the field.

They also showed some good situational hitting, with Ricks' groundball RBI and a sacrifice bunt in the ninth by Freshman of the Year shortstop Ryan Braun, who had gone 0-for-8 with six strikeouts to that point in the Series. His sacrifice in the ninth moved up Ricks, who scored on Brian Barton's RBI single for the final margin.

The 'Canes got three runs off reliever Bob Zimmermann in two-plus innings, and they needed the extra cushion. After getting out of the seventh-inning jam, Huguet ran into trouble in the eighth with Miami leading 6-2. After Clay Wheeler singled and Tony Piazza worked back from an 0-2 count to draw a walk, Huguet gave up a three-run homer to shortstop Shaun Marcum. It made the score 6-5 and sparked the Bears, who thought the Cinderella slipper might fit after all.

"I thought we had a chance to win after the home run," Marcum said. "I wasn't in the dugout afterward, because I was warming up in the bullpen, but the guys seemed excited."

Instead, Zimmermann started the ninth and Marcum couldn't quite put out the fire. Miami got better relief work with Shaun Valdes-Fauli, who has replaced Huguet as the closer, getting the last four outs. He struck out Brinkley and Colvin before getting a weak comebacker from Rick Wilson to end the game and SMS' season.

The Bears finished 40-26 and like San Jose State went 0-2 in the CWS as the second No. 3 seed under the current format to reach Omaha. But there's no doubt that despite the loss, SMS had the kind of season that could put the program on the map nationally.

"We felt really good with Brad going out there and being the home team," coach Keith Guttin said. "But every time we scored, Miami seemed to have an answer and get a run back. It's going to be difficult to tell these guys good-bye.

"This (trip) is going to pay dividends for years to come, with the national and regional exposure we got. A lot of people who were casual observers got behind this team, and hopefully they will stay behind us for years to come."