Miami rallies past N.C. State in Game 1

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Posted 8:22AM on Sunday, June 8, 2003

CORAL GABLES, FLORIDA - Ryan Braun hit a two-out home run in the ninth inning to give the Miami Hurricanes a 10-9 comeback win over North Carolina State in the first game of their super regional. The Hurricanes - now 72-11 in the postseason at Mark Light Field - rallied to take the game after falling behind by six runs midway through. Braun's home run his 17th of the season and second of the game came off Wolfpack star closer Joey Devine, who had 14 saves this season. The homer was the only hit Devine (6-3) gave up in 1 1/3 innings of relief. Shaun Valdez-Fauli (4-0) picked up the win in relief after getting out of a ninth inning jam. Tied at 9-9, the Wolfpack had runners at second and third after a single and a double. But Valdez-Fauli induced two harmless grounders to get out of the inning and set the stage for Braun. Miami ace J.D. Cockroft was rocked by the Wolfpack bats. Cockroft, who entered with a 2.20 ERA, gave up nine runs seven earned on 10 hits in 5 1/3 innings. In his last outing, Cockroft threw a one-hit shutout against Florida Atlantic in last weekend's regional. The Wolfpack appeared to take control with a six-run sixth inning off Cockroft. Matt Camp started the scoring with a one-out single with the bases loaded to bring home two runs. After an error by Braun at shortstop loaded the bases again, Justin Riley unloaded them with a towering grand slam to left field. However, the Hurricanes came right back to cut the deficit to one with five runs in the bottom of the inning. Gaby Sanchez had the big shot, hitting a three-run homer to cut the lead to 9-6. Erick San Pedro followed later in the inning with an RBI double and Danny Figueroa capped the scoring with an RBI single. Miami tied the game in the eighth. Sanchez led off with a double to center then moved to third on Joey Hooft's sacrifice bunt. San Pedro drove in Sanchez with a sac fly to tie the game. The Hurricanes got the offense going early. After a leadoff walk to Figueroa and a single by Adam Ricks in the first, Braun launched a three-run home run over the palm trees in left field to give the Hurricanes a 3-0 lead. Fielding miscues in the third by Miami allowed Wolfpack to climb back into the game. After a single and a walk, Braun booted Riley's grounder, scoring Camp. With runners on the corner, Colt Morton hit a grounder, but beat out the double play. First baseman Jim Burt's throw to the plate was not in time to get Chad Orvella, who scored to cut Miami's lead to one run. The run was the first earned run given up by Cockroft in 17 2/3 innings.