Second-ranked Miami scored four crucial runs in the eighth inning to hold back visiting Bethune-Cookman, 10-5 on Tuesday night in a non-conference baseball contest held at Mark Light Field in Coral Gables, Fla.

The night started off as if the Hurricanes of Miami (18-2) would cruise to yet another victory over their intrastate foes from Daytona Beach. The Hurricanes jumped on B-CU freshman pitcher Samuel Rodriguez early with two runs on the board and runners ins coring position in the bottom-half of the first inning.

Miami’s runs came via a Ryan Jackson RBI single to score Blake Tekotte, followed by Jackson crossing home with the help of a RBI single from teammate Yonder Alonso. Both runners got into scoring position with two (2) balks called against Rodriguez as his nerves seemed to get the better of him in front of an announced crowd of 1,904.

The Hurricanes collected two more runs that were charged to Rodriguez later in the first when B-CU (14-8) relief pitcher Roman Lancara was hit for a two-run scoring single by catcher Jason Hagerty to put the home team up 4-0 after the first frame.

The Wildcats answered the call by the home team in the top-half of the second inning when they plated four runs of their own to knot the game at 4-4.

B-CU junior Chris Brown ledoff the frame with his fourth homerun of the year as he delivered a deep shot to left field off Miami starter John Housey. Neal Jones followed that up three batters later with a bases-clearing triple to bring B-CU to within 4-3 at that point. Jones would later score as leadoff hitter Mark Brooks scored him with an RBI ground-out to short.

Miami broke the tie in the third off a Hagerty solo shot to left to put the ?Canes in front for good at 5-4. They would add yet another homerun in the next inning with a leadoff blast to left from Jackson, propelling the ?Canes to a 604 advantage after four innings of play.

In the eighth, the Hurricanes posted yet another four-run outburst to seal the win.

B-CU reliever Matthew Crane toed the mound to start the frame, and he immediately hit a batter, and then the next batter reached safely on an error charged to the Wildcats infield. The man of the evening, Jackson, then stepped into the batter’s box and blasted a two-run single through the left side to score teammates Jemile Weeks and Dave DiNatale. Joey Terdoslavich posted a two-run single to center to vault the ?Canes to their 10 runs scored in the game.

The Wildcats tried to rally in the ninth when Brooks singled and later scored on a Miami error to round-out the 10-5 score. The game ended with an Osvaldo Torres pop-up to second that left the bases juiced full of Wildcats as the rally ended short.

The win went to UM starter Housey who jumped his record to 2-0 on the year, while B-CU’s Rodriguez dropped below the .500 line to 1-2 for the season. For Housey, he went 5.1 innings on the bump as he allowed four runs on seven hits with four strikeouts and two walks.

B-CU’s Rodriguez didn’t have the best night as he never collected an out for the Maroon and Gold, allowing four earned runs on four hits and a walk. B-CU relievers Roman Lancara and Chris Chapman combined for seven of the game’s eight frames with just five hits, respectively. Lancara was charged with two earned runs while Chapman allowed zero runs and drew two strikeouts.

The Hurricanes were led at the plate by their shortstop Jackson who was a perfect 4-for-4 with three runs and four (4) RBI. Mark Sobolewski and Hagerty each collected multiple hits with two apiece, respectively.

B-CU, though scoring just five runs, did slug 10 hits against their #2-ranked opponents from the baseball-heavy Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). They were even able to score, which is something they lacked against their last nationally-ranked opponent in UCLA as they faced a 2-0 defeat in Compton, Calif.

Junior centerfielder Jose Ortiz collected two hits in four trips, as well as Neal Jones with a 2-for-4 outing as he scored once and registered two RBI.

B-CU wraps up its two-game mid-week series with the Hurricanes tomorrow at 6 p.m. back at Mark Light Field.