April 18, 2008

Oxford, OH (UWIRE) -- The Redhawks seems to have awakened after a slow start to the season. Led by their hot bats and homerun hitting, the RedHawks brought excitement to the field and their own dugout this week beating Purdue University and Xavier University.

Junior Jordan Petraitis extended his hitting streak to nine games over the two-game period but his most important hit came in the bottom of the seventh inning against the Boilermakers Tuesday evening. With a two ball, one strike count, Petraitis lifted a hanging breaking ball over the left center field wall for his fourth homerun of the season and a 5-2 RedHawk lead.

"It was a big boost for us," Petraitis said. "We've been struggling all year as everyone knows, and that moment put us over the edge and in a good spot heading into the weekend."

Petraitis continued to see the ball well this week, carrying over from last week's stellar performance where he went 10-21 from the plate, with a .471 batting average and seven RBI's.

"It feels like it had been coming all year," Petraitis said. "In baseball you go through cold and hot streaks, it's a part of the game, finally a little hard work is paying off."

The RedHawks jumped to a quick lead in the first after a sacrifice fly by Junior Tommy Nurre and an RBI triple by Freshman John Hornke. Purdue's Dan Black however put the team on his shoulders bringing the Boilermakers even at 2-2 with two homeruns of his own.

Purdue had several chances to put away the RedHawks, loading the bases in the third and fourth innings, but were unable to produce a single run from those key moments of the game.

With a window of opportunity, junior J.D. Mynhier led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a pinch-hit single. Two batters later, senior Evan Armitage took a four-pitch walk to bring in Patraitis hot bat. Petraitis, unlike the Boilermakers, was able to take advantage of the men on base and drove in both runners along with himself with his three-run homerun.

"We haven't played bad baseball," Miami head coach Dan Simonds said. "We weren't doing what was necessary to win. We have had solid D, OK pitching, and the last few days Jordan has been seeing the ball. We have three or four solid guys in the middle with speed at the top of the lineup. We have a lot of games left."

Miami would have little time to enjoy a hard earned win as they hosted Xavier the very next night, a team that had just taken two of three games from nationally ranked UNC-Charlotte last weekend. Their line-up features three hitters batting over .350.

Apparently Miami did not get that memo, nor did they care as they jumped on Xavier early putting up a five-run third inning.

The RedHawks were shutout in the first two innings but held their opponent to no runs with an unusual strategy. Miami used three different pitchers (freshman Tyler Melling, sophomore Reece Asbury and senior Steve Antoniotti) in the first three innings; all were able to hold off Xavier's powerful bats. With Melling and Asbury coming off the disabled list, Simonds didn't want to overwork his banged up pitching staff.

Petraitis began where he left off with an RBI double in the bottom of the third, scoring Armitage who had reached on an infield hit. Junior Chris Nadeau maintained the momentum with a single to left field. With runners at the corners, Mynhier hit a sharp single to third scoring Petraitis. Junior Eric Darlage and Hornke would add two more RBI singles giving the RedHawks a 5-0 lead.

With the second hottest bat on the team, Nadeau would follow up a stellar third inning with a solo homerun to right center in the bottom of the fourth inning. Unable to hit a homerun in a three-year career at Miami, Nadeau has now hit three homeruns in a ten-day span.

"I credit my hitting to a lot of off season work," Nadeau said. "My assistant coach took me under his wing and now I feel more power, I'm stronger, I'm just seeing the ball well."

Xavier was able to muster two runs in the sixth bringing them to within four runs trailing 6-2. Miami however was able to tack on one more run on a throwing error in the bottom of sixth extending the lead to 7-2, which would result in the final score.

The hot bats of Petraitis and Nadeau have fans excited along with the coaching staff.

"They're good hitters, they know their swings" Simonds said. "J.P. (Petraitis) ran into some touch luck; he's a slow starter, but once he gets going he's a good hitter."

The idea that the team can compete is apparent throughout the dugout.

"People who have seen us play day in and day out know that we are not a bad baseball team," Petraitis said. "We are one or two plays away from winning. We have good pitching and defense, and finally we are starting to hit the ball."

The RedHawks return to Mid-American Conference action this weekend when they travel to Buffalo, N.Y. for a three game series with the Buffalo Bulls. The team hopes to prove their critics wrong and get back in the playoff race.

"People don't think we're a good team," Nadeau said. "We have a lot of talent stepping up. We are pumped up and showing people what we're made of."

(C) 2008 The Miami Student via UWIRE