Canes end with win; UF gains SEC share

E d g a r Mi c h e l a n ge l i c a pp e d Miami’s regular season with a dramatic three-run home run in the bottom of the 10th that lifted the Hurricanes to a 7-5 victory over Virginia Tech on Saturday afternoon in Coral Gables.

Johnny Ruiz hit a two-run home run and drove in four runs to lead Miami (29-26, 16-13 ACC). Carl Chester and Joe Gomez also contributed two hits apiece for UM.

Tied at 2, the game entered extra innings and the Hokies (23-32, 9-21) took a 5-2 lead on a three-run home run by Raheim Cooper.

James Davison opened the bottom of the inning with a walk and moved to third on Chester’s double. Ruiz followed with a two-run double to pull UM to within 5-4.

After Nico Baldor earned a twoout walk, Michelangeli fell behind 0-2 before hitting his fourth home run of the season.

The Hurricanes will learn today who they’ll play in the ACC tournament, which runs Tuesday through next Sunday in Louisville.

Florida 6, Kentucky 4: The No. 5 Gators (40-15, 21-9 SEC) clinched at least a share of the conference championship with a victory over the No. 7 Wildcats (38-18, 19-11) in Gainesville.

Jackson Kowar gave up two runs in 6⅓ innings to lead the Gators. The right-hander improved to 10-0 on the season and 13-0 in his UF career after striking out four and walking two.

Nelson Maldonado led the UF attack, going 2-for-3 with a threerun home run and four RBIs.

The SEC title is the fourth in 10 years under coach Kevin O’Sullivan.

“I’m just happy for the players, the staff,” O’Sullivan told floridagators. com. “It’s all about the players. They grinded this thing out the whole year.”

The Gators clinched the No. 1 overall seed for the SEC Tournament and will play at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday against the winner of Tuesday’s game between Auburn and Ole Miss in Hoover, Ala.

FAU 3, Old Dominion 0: Jake Miednik pitched eight shutout innings, leading the Owls (33-19, 18-12 Conference USA) over the Monarchs (36-19, 19-11) in Boca Raton.

Miednik (6-4) gave up six hits, struck out five and didn’t walk a batter.

Cameron Ragsdale pitched a perfect ninth for his eighth save.

Stephen Kerr was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and Jared Shouppe was 2-for-3 with t wo runs scored to lead the Owls.

Third-seeded FAU will face sixthseeded Rice at 10 a.m. Wednesday in a first-round game of the Conference USA Tournament in Biloxi, Miss.