May 25, 2007

Championship Site | Box Score | Quotes

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) - Miami's Richard O'Brien hit a three-run homer in the second inning to give Miami the lead for good and freshman Eric Erickson held Florida State in check for eight innings Friday as the Hurricanes upset top-seeded Florida State 9-3 in the ACC Baseball Championship.

Erickson (10-3) had only had one other outing of eight innings this year, that coming against Fordham on March 3 in the Canes' 8-1 win. The left-hander held Florida State to seven hits and three runs while walking just one and striking out four.

After O'Brien's second-inning shot into the right field bleachers-the tournament's first home run in eight games-the Canes scored a pair of runs in the fifth and then secured the win with four runs in the sixth inning.

Jemile Weeks played a role in all three of Miami's run-producing innings. He singled and scored on O'Brien's homer in the second, drove in both Miami runs with a single in the fifth and then tripled home a run and later scored in the sixth inning.

Miami (36-21, 17-13) had 11 hits with Weeks getting three and every other starter in the batting order getting one hit.

Miami head coach Jim Morris said the result of Friday's games will make the road to Sunday's championship game more interesting.

"I guess we will know after that first game whether we have a chance or not," Morris said. "It puts a lot more pressure on our Wake Forest game.

"But that game is really importnat to us whether it's during the NCAA Tournament or the ACC Tournament."

Florida State (47-10, 24-6) was led by Tony Thomas who had a double and a solo home run. Starting pitcher Ryan Strauss (9-3) went 4 2/3 innings and gave up five runs to take the loss. The Seminoles, designated the visiting team for the game, had a large following which helped set a single session tournament attendance record of 13,546.

"It's tough going into it [Saturday's game with Clemson] knowing that making the championship game is not in your hands," Thomas said. "You can do your job and someone cannot do theirs. It can be heartbreaking, but it can also be uplifting as well.

"You just have to go out there and not worry about other teams and play your game."

The win by Miami and a Wake Forest win over Clemson earlier in the day, leaves the four teams in Bracket A of the round-robin format all tied with 1-1 records.

On Saturday, Florida State meets Clemson and Wake Forest takes on Miami in the third and fourth games of the day. Once those two winners have been determined, which ever team beat the other in their earlier meeting in the tournament, qualifies to play in Sunday's championship game. That team will play the winner of Saturday's North Carolina-Virginia game from Bracket B.