After last night's putrid 14-1 loss to No. 5 FSU, Miami was further punished by having to face the top arm in this year’s draft, Jaime Arnold. Or so we thought. Against all odds the Hurricanes secured their first ACC win of the year, defeating the FSU Seminoles 9-6 on Friday night in Coral Gables.
The upperclassmen stole the show tonight for the Hurricanes with Bobby Marsh and Derek Williams combining for six RBI’s and five of the ’Canes hits, while righty Griffin Hugus went five innings only giving up two for the win.
Despite the win, things began eerily similar to last night for Miami. A pair of singles followed by a walk loaded the bases for the Seminoles in the top of the first, leaving fans worried this game would turn into another blowout. Hugus limited the damage to one, and from then on battled his way through over a hundred pitches to keep FSU’s batters in check for the next four innings.
As mentioned before, the Seminoles had their ace Jaime Arnold on the mound and felt confident with the early lead. But Arnold simply did not have it tonight, struggling with command and location all night. UM jumped on this opportunity and never looked back. Manufacturing a run in the first before displaying some power in the second and third inning with a Williams homer and Marsh RBI double to make the game 4-2 Miami.
Miami appeared to have stunned both Arnold and the Seminoles as a whole and kept up the momentum. Hugus battled his way through five, and the bats rewarded him in the bottom half of the inning. The ’Canes teed off on Arnold with three hits bringing in three runs before FSU brought in Chris Knier to put out the fire.
After Hugus’s gutsy performance, head coach J.D Arteaga looked to the bullpen to keep the 7-2 lead. He brought in freshman right-handed pitcher A.J Ciscar who dominated his first two innings out of the pen. Bobby Marsh rewarded him with a solo shot to left to add another insurance run, his sixth of the year.
Arteaga opted to keep Ciscar in for a third inning in the eighth , and trouble began to emerge. A single, a double, and a hit-by-pitch later the Seminoles had the bases loaded. Will Smith was brought into the game to limit the damage and limited the scoring to two on a single.
Again manufactured runs came into play for the Hurricanes. After Jake Ogden stole third, freshman Fabio Peralta scored him with a sac fly to provide a crucial insurance run.
That run was crucial as Smith loaded the bases in the ninth with a trifecta of singles. He managed to strike out a batter before giving up another run which ended his night. Arteaga brought in senior Alex Giroux to get Miami out of the jam, which he did, securing the 9-6 win for the Hurricanes.
It wasn’t pretty but it worked out in the end. A combination of smart baseball, aggressive baserunning, and clutch pitching all came together for this Miami win. If they can put more games like this together, UM could really surprise some teams during conference play.
Miami (14-10, 1-4 ACC) will take on FSU (19-3, 4-1 ACC) tomorrow night in the rubber-match, a game that could truly dictate the outlook on this Hurricanes season.
The upperclassmen stole the show tonight for the Hurricanes with Bobby Marsh and Derek Williams combining for six RBI’s and five of the ’Canes hits, while righty Griffin Hugus went five innings only giving up two for the win.
Despite the win, things began eerily similar to last night for Miami. A pair of singles followed by a walk loaded the bases for the Seminoles in the top of the first, leaving fans worried this game would turn into another blowout. Hugus limited the damage to one, and from then on battled his way through over a hundred pitches to keep FSU’s batters in check for the next four innings.
As mentioned before, the Seminoles had their ace Jaime Arnold on the mound and felt confident with the early lead. But Arnold simply did not have it tonight, struggling with command and location all night. UM jumped on this opportunity and never looked back. Manufacturing a run in the first before displaying some power in the second and third inning with a Williams homer and Marsh RBI double to make the game 4-2 Miami.
Miami appeared to have stunned both Arnold and the Seminoles as a whole and kept up the momentum. Hugus battled his way through five, and the bats rewarded him in the bottom half of the inning. The ’Canes teed off on Arnold with three hits bringing in three runs before FSU brought in Chris Knier to put out the fire.
After Hugus’s gutsy performance, head coach J.D Arteaga looked to the bullpen to keep the 7-2 lead. He brought in freshman right-handed pitcher A.J Ciscar who dominated his first two innings out of the pen. Bobby Marsh rewarded him with a solo shot to left to add another insurance run, his sixth of the year.
Arteaga opted to keep Ciscar in for a third inning in the eighth , and trouble began to emerge. A single, a double, and a hit-by-pitch later the Seminoles had the bases loaded. Will Smith was brought into the game to limit the damage and limited the scoring to two on a single.
Again manufactured runs came into play for the Hurricanes. After Jake Ogden stole third, freshman Fabio Peralta scored him with a sac fly to provide a crucial insurance run.
That run was crucial as Smith loaded the bases in the ninth with a trifecta of singles. He managed to strike out a batter before giving up another run which ended his night. Arteaga brought in senior Alex Giroux to get Miami out of the jam, which he did, securing the 9-6 win for the Hurricanes.
It wasn’t pretty but it worked out in the end. A combination of smart baseball, aggressive baserunning, and clutch pitching all came together for this Miami win. If they can put more games like this together, UM could really surprise some teams during conference play.
Miami (14-10, 1-4 ACC) will take on FSU (19-3, 4-1 ACC) tomorrow night in the rubber-match, a game that could truly dictate the outlook on this Hurricanes season.
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