OXFORD — The Miami University baseball team remained unbeaten at home with a 4-2 series-opening win over East Tennessee State on Saturday. Sophomore pitcher Shane Smith went the distance for Miami, earning his first collegiate complete game.
Smith (W, 1-0) went a career-high nine innings strong, allowing just two runs on eight hits while fanning four. ETSU starter Ryan Simpler (L, 3-2) tossed seven innings for the Buccaneers and surrendered four runs on 10 hits while striking out seven.
The Red & White (4-11) wasted little time in grabbing a lead. Dallas Hall led off the bottom of the first with a single up the middle. Following a flyout, Ross Haffey brought Hall all the way around to score on a double to the gap in left, thrusting the `Hawks in front, 1-0, through just an inning of action.
Miami doubled its margin in the home half of the third. A pair of one-out singles from Brooks Urich and Haffey got runners on the corners for the RedHawks before an Adam Yacek safety squeeze allowed Urich to touch home and make it 2-0 MU through three.
The Buccaneers (9-7) clawed their way back into the contest with single runs in the fifth and six innings. In the fifth, an RBI single through the left side brought in one before they knotted things up at two apiece with an RBI double down the right field line in the sixth. Miami answered in its half of the frame to retake the lead. Back-to-back base hits by Yacek and J.T Stone followed by a double steal put baserunners on second and third with nobody down for the RedHawks. After a flyout, Tyler Harris singled to left field, plating Yacek for a 3-2 Miami lead after six.
The Red & White got themselves an insurance marker in the bottom of the seventh when a two-out double from Haffey went off of the wall and scored Hall from first, handing Miami a 4-2 advantage. The Bucs got two baserunners in the ninth but Smith and the defense held strong to secure the victory.
