JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Mark Sobolewski doubled home two runs in the first inning to give starting pitcher Chris Hernandez all the run support he would need as top-seeded Miami beat Clemson 7-1 on Wednesday in the Atlantic Coast Conference baseball tournament.
Hernandez (11-0), the ACC leader in victories and winning percentage, faced the minimum number of batters over the first five and one-thirds innings and went on to strike out 10 and allow four hits and no walks in eight scoreless innings. He has a streak of 27 two-thirds innings without allowing a base on balls.
Hernandez benefited from three double plays, two which erased the only base runners Clemson managed through five innings.
The Hurricanes (44-8) will face fifth-seeded Georgia Tech in a Division A round-robin game Thursday. Clemson (30-26-1), seeded eighth in the tournament, will play No. 4 North Carolina State. Tech defeated N.C. State 10-9 in the tournament opener.
Sobolewski’s double in the first drove in Jemile Weeks and Yonder Alonso, who had both drawn one-out walks off Clemson starter D.J. Mitchell (6-5). Sobolewski then scored on Ryan Jackson’s single.
Catcher Yasmani Grandal hit a solo homer in the second inning, his fourth of the year. After that, Mitchell settled down and struck out 11 batters in six innings. He leads the ACC with 106 strikeouts.
However, the Hurricanes roughed him up for three more runs in his final inning, two of them on a double by designated hitter Dave DiNatale. Blake Tekotte then singled DiNatale home.
Clemson scored its only run in the top of the ninth on an RBI fielder’s-choice grounder by Kyle Parker. It was Parker’s 50th RBI of the season.