Despite losing their season opener, the Miami University baseball team won their series against the Furman University Paladins thanks to a Saturday doubleheader sweep in Greenville, S.C.
"I felt that we did a good job," Head Coach Dan Simonds said. "Just because we lose the first game [of a series] doesn't mean the series is over."
The RedHawks lost Friday's game 10-2 but came back on Saturday to win both games, 8-2 and 12-11.
"Playing a double header wasn't too bad," junior first baseman Kevin Bower said. "We'll have to get used to it because we'll have more later in the season because of weather. We went down expecting to win three games, and after losing the first it was really important to win the next two."
Bower led the offensive charge in all three games. He finished the series with seven hits, six RBIs and a home run.
"I'm seeing the ball pretty well right now," he said. "It is nice to come away with a good first weekend."
Junior pitcher Brooks Fiala helped the RedHawks rebound in the second game by striking out a career-high nine batters over 7.2 innings. He only gave up five hits and two earned runs in the 8-2 victory.
"Fiala pitched a great game," Simonds said "We really bounced back from a tough first game."
The Red and White fell behind early in the opener and were never able to catch up. Junior starting pitcher Mac Thoreson gave up six runs in only 3.2 innings of work, all of them earned. He walked three and struck out three. The 'Hawks were only able to muster up five hits and two runs, with both runs coming on Bower's two-run blast.
Fiala limited Furman's offense to only five hits in game one of the double header and the team's bats came alive as well. The Red and White smacked 15 hits, with four coming from Bowers and three apiece from senior rightfielder Ryan Curl and freshman shortstop Scott Slappey.
"It was big," Fiala said about winning the second game. "We really wanted to salvage the weekend and I just wanted to keep the team in it."
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The second game of the double header was a high scoring affair filled with errors, as Furman committed four and Miami committed six.
The offense picked up where they left off in the first game though, racking up 13 hits and 12 runs. Freshman designated hitter Matt Honchel and senior centerfielder Alex Johnson each had three hits and three RBIs. Bower had four RBIs during the game. Senior left-fielder Bryce Redeker managed to draw four walks during the game.
The RedHawks took a 10-7 lead in the sixth and narrowly held on to win the game, 12-11. The Paladins picked up a run in the eighth and two more in the ninth before Curl made a sliding catch in foul territory to seal the deal.
"We have some young guys who haven't been in that situation before," Simonds said. "We got a little tight. We have some improving to do and we have to get better late in the game. The nice thing was we were still able to get the win."
Senior pitcher Matt Rosinski closed the final four innings for the 'Hawks to pick up the save. He allowed only two hits and three runs, all of which were unearned.
The RedHawks return to Greenville next weekend for two games against Michigan State University and another against Furman.
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