Nov. 15, 2013
Nashville, Tenn. – Jared Miller did not need much help Friday afternoon at Hawkins Field in Game 2 of the Black & Gold Series but the big lefty received plenty as the Gold team hammered the Black team 13-4 to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series.
Miller (1-0) dominated over his five innings, striking out 11 and allowing one unearned run on four hits with only one walk. The junior southpaw rolled through the Black lineup punching out at least two batters in four of his five frames, including a four-strikeout inning in his final inning.
The few times Miller found himself in trouble on Friday he pitched out of the jam using the strikeout. In the first, Xavier Turner singled, stole second and advanced to third on an error with one out but Miller responded with consecutive strikeouts to end the threat. In the second, the big lefty walked John Norwood to lead off the inning but picked him off and followed that with two more strikeouts. Turner and Vince Conde each singled to start the fourth but Miller got Chris Harvey to bounce into a double play then struck out Norwood to end the inning. The Black team scratched out a run against Miller thanks to a throwing error on a dropped third strike that allowed Penn Murfee, who doubled, to score from second.
While Miller was dealing on the mound the Gold team was raking at the plate. The Gold squad jumped on Black starter Carson Fulmer (0-1) in the second inning for seven runs on eight hits, sending 11 batters to the plate. Zander Wiel started the rally with a leadoff single and after a fly out to right field, Tyler Campbell started a streak of seven straight hits for the Gold team. Jason Delay ripped a two-run single to center field to put Gold on the board then back-to-back, RBI-doubles from Will Cooper and Aubrey McCarty pushed the rally back to the top of the lineup. Nolan Rogers singled in a run and scored on Rhett Wiseman’s single. After starting the inning with a single, Wiel knocked in a run in his second at-bat of the inning with a groundout to shortstop to cap the rally. The inning finally came to an end when Fulmer struck out Bryan Reynolds.
The Gold team flexed its offensive muscle once again in the fifth, sending 10 men to the dish to score six runs on three hits. McCarty singled in two runs to start the rally with Dansby Swanson and Wiseman following with RBI-singles of their own. Wiel again capped the rally when he beat out a potential inning-ending double play to allow two more runs to score.
As a team, the Gold squad scored 13 runs on 14 hits with 13 RBI. All nine players in the lineup recorded at least one hit with Swanson leading the way going 3-for-3. Wiel and McCarty each drove in three runs in the win. Turner led all players with a perfect 4-for-4 night, recording three singles and a double in the loss.
Fulmer took the loss for the Black team allowing seven runs on nine hits over two innings. The Black bullpen did not fare much better with freshman Ben Bowden allowing five runs on four hits in 2.1 innings and redshirt freshman Pat Delano giving up one run on one hit in 1.2 innings.
The two teams resume the series on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. Walker Buehler gets the ball for the Gold team and will oppose fellow sophomore right-hander Tyler Ferguson for the Black squad.
