Miami Student

Issue date: 3/23/07 Section: Sports

Senior Brandon Hillier tallies one of his four hits during Wednesday's win over Xavier. Hillier came up just a home run short of the cycle.

Senior center fielder Brandon Hillier must have been seeing the ball just a little bit better than everyone else on a windy Wednesday afternoon at McKie Baseball Field at Hayden Park, leading the RedHawks to a 9-5 victory over Xavier University.

Hillier had a big day at the plate, going 4-5 with two singles, a double, a triple and three runs scored to lead the way for Miami University.

Hillier joked about the chance of him hitting for the cycle.

"No, I'm not a homerun hitter," Hillier said. "I was just looking to put in a good at bat. It was the last thing on my mind."

Yet Hillier's teammates felt his performance was quite noteworthy, as they named him player of the game.

After a disappointing 14-inning loss to Indiana State in the 'Hawks home opener Tuesday, they looking for some redemption and were able to get the hits that mattered.

"Our energy level was low today," Head Coach Dan Simonds said. "We played solid, but it was definitely not one of our best games. We're like a racehorse; we need to hit our stride, which we haven't yet."

Although the team might not been as solid as it could have been, the players did collaborate for a total of nine runs on 12 hits for the win.

Throughout the game, all aspects of the 'Hawks offense was clicking, enabling them to tally at least one run in every inning, except the sixth.

It was sophomore Chris Nadeau who opened the scoring for Miami with a two-run single in the first inning, scoring Hillier and freshman Gary King.

Drew Roberts, the Xavier designated hitter, answered back quickly, with a solo homerun in the first at bat of the second inning. The 'Hawks were able to return to the dugout with the score still 2-1, and looked to extend their lead. With the help of Hillier's single and sophomore Jordan Petraitis' two RBI double, the 'Hawks jumped out to a 4-1 lead.

Miami kept applying the pressure in the third inning when sophomore Eric Darlage ripped a low pitch from Xavier starting pitcher Dan Graham off the wall for a triple. The triple plated senior Jeff Carroll, and put Miami up four runs.

However in the next half inning, Xavier would answer right back. The Musketeers were able to get their leadoff man on base with a single up the middle, and Miami starter Robert Shannon walked the next batter, to put runners on first and second with no outs.

Continued...

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