The Miami Hurricanes played their annual series with in-state rival the Florida Gators this weekend. While the series didn’t go quite as well as hoped, Miami did manage to win the Sunday game and get a big win for the rest of their season. Here is the recap of the weekend complete with key moments, stats, and where Miami can improve upon as we move forward with the season.
Game One-
The series could not have started off any better for Miami than it did on Friday night, with Jeb Bargfeldt retiring the Gators after allowing a harmless two-out single. In the bottom half Miami jumped on potential number-one overall MLB draft pick, Brady Singer, with a leadoff double by Burns followed by a HR by Michael Perez- the first of his Miami career. A one-out double and two-out single by Michael Amditis plated Danny Reyes and the Canes led the game 3-0. From there, things would go south quickly for the Canes.
Key plays:
The second inning started with a problem that has plagued Miami too often in recent years; walking a hitter immediately after the offense has given you a lead. The Canes were able to catch the hitter stealing, but the mere fact it happened shows one of the issues that the Canes have had in winning big games lately.
In the same inning, Miami makes another mistake with a ground ball to 1B that should’ve been an easy out, but Toral is too far away from 1B to beat the runner to the bad and Bargfeldt fails to cover quickly enough. The announcer indicated it was Escala’s fault, but he is not responsible for covering 1B, he is responsible for backing up the play behind Toral first in case he lets it go and covers. That play was on the Senior, Bargfeldt and it cost the Canes. On a 1-2 pitch Horvath hits a two-out, two-run HR and the lead was down to 3-2. This sequence was a huge moment in the game and is something that has happened too often thus far in the season.
The fourth inning saw Florida take the lead for good. A single up-the-middle followed by a pair of doubles made it 4-3 and the game was essentially over.
Game Two-
In this game Miami truly didn’t give themselves a chance. The leadoff hitter makes an out, but then the next man singles. Where they hurt themselves is by throwing a wild pitch to get him into scoring position. Schwarz walks with a base open, and that’s not a killer yet. Things got bad from there. Florida hits a ground ball to 2B and Escala makes a throwing error allowing him to reach base and load the bases. The next batter walks and forces in a run. In that situation you just cannot walk the hitter. A strikeout would’ve ended the inning without any runs scoring without the error, but then the next batter is hit with an 0-2 pitch to force in another run. Those are the types of mistakes that prevent any chance at winning.
Key Plays-
After getting back into the game and tying it at two apiece, Michael Perez grounds into an inning-ending double play to keep the game tied. Getting a lead in that situation could’ve potentially changed the entire game. Perez had to protect the plate with the count 1-2, but that was a tough ending to the inning when it looked like the team had life.
Passed ball by Amditis in the sixth inning is the third run of the game that was given to the Gators without having to earn it. In a game that was close at the time, this changed the course of the feel of the game. Instead of one swing being able to tie it, now the pitcher has margin for error.
In the eighth the game was put away by mistakes from the Canes. An error leading off the inning made things tough, then another 0-2 mistake allowed for a single to center. Jeremy Cook came in and did not have his control as he proceeded to walk two batters and hit another to allow two runs to score.
Game Three-
The series finale was a game that felt like an important game to the Canes season. Coming into this game Miami had lost nine of their last eleven games with the Gators and had a Baseball American writer indicating on Twitter that “there is no shame in losing to the Gators, but I think it goes far beyond a rebuild.” The same writer also indicated that, “Miami’s true freshmen have been overmatched by UF’s true freshmen.”
Enter Evan McKendry to make everything seem a bit better in the world. McKendry dazzled the reported 3,388 fans in attendance, not giving up his first hit until the fifth inning (a cringe-worthy play involving a pop-up landing directly on the mound in a tie game for a double.” Using an outside corner that was being called off the plate for both sides all day, McKendry consistently kept Gators hitters off-balance with a fastball in the low-90’s and a changeup that was a true swing-and-miss pitch. The sophomore righty is showing the makings of a true ace for this staff.
Key Plays-
In the second inning, the Gators’ leadoff hitter walked and stole second base. He then advanced to third on an aggressive base running play on a ground ball to shortstop. McKendry got the next Gator hitter to strike out on three pitches and then kept them off the scoreboard with a fly ball to right field.
In the third inning Miami missed a major opportunity. Zamora was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and Escala followed with a ground ball single to left field on an 0-2 pitch. Fifth-year senior Michael Burns was sent up to bunt the runners over and was unable to get the bunt down, then struck out swinging on a ball in the dirt. The Canes ended up not scoring in the inning and that inability to execute could’ve cost the Canes the game.
With two outs in the fifth, Escala doubled down the left field line and Bursn redeemed himself for his earlier mistake by getting double to score Escala and give the Canes the lead.
In the seventh, Cabezas ran into some self-inflicted trouble when he walked the bases loaded but was able to avoid damage by getting the Gator hitter to fly out.
In the seventh, Miami really did some things you want to see them do much more often. Escala battled for nine pitches before drawing a walk. This walk moved Zamora into scoring position and Burns made it count by driving a ground ball the other way for a single and RBI. If Miami can continue battling in key spots and drawing more walks and driving the ball the other way for hits in key situations, the pitching will help the Canes win a lot of games.
Series Statistics-
Batting Average on Balls in Play- A measure to indicate the batting average on balls that were in play by hitters (removes strikeouts and home runs and can help analyze luck and/or quality of contact).
Florida- .250
Miami- .282 (ACC average is .335)
wOBA- This uses linear weights to determine how each individual action contributes to scoring runs for that run environment.
Florida- .318
Miami- .277 (ACC average is .365)
BB% and K%- The percentage of walks or strikeouts per plate appearance for each team.
Florida- 11.9% walks, 20.3% strikeouts
Miami- 4.5% walks, 25.5% strikeouts
Freshmen hitters- Mainly, I wanted to check the stats for what the Baseball America writer indicated.
Florida- .000/.091/.000 batting line in 10 at bats for a .000 wOBA and two errors in the field.
Miami- .200/.304/.200 batting line in 40 at bats for a .275 wOBA and two errors in the field.
It is incredibly difficult to be a freshman hitter and compete at this level immediately.
Overall-
Miami made a lot of mistakes in this series and one area that Florida really made their mark was in their ability to take walks while Miami hitters were more aggressive at the plate and swung at pitches out of the strike zone in key situations. Florida had an 11.9% walk rate to Miami’s minuscule 4.5% rate. The key to winning baseball games is to get on-base and when you do make contact, make hard contact. The Florida Gators have a very good baseball team, and especially pitching staff, they will hold a lot of offenses down and with this many freshmen in the lineup, they were bound to struggle. As the season goes along there is a major opportunity to improve their run scoring chances by being less aggressive at the plate and taking more walks. Getting the win versus Florida on Sunday is an excellent springboard to the rest of the season and one that I am confident will be an excellent resume point when it comes tournament seeding time.
Game One-
The series could not have started off any better for Miami than it did on Friday night, with Jeb Bargfeldt retiring the Gators after allowing a harmless two-out single. In the bottom half Miami jumped on potential number-one overall MLB draft pick, Brady Singer, with a leadoff double by Burns followed by a HR by Michael Perez- the first of his Miami career. A one-out double and two-out single by Michael Amditis plated Danny Reyes and the Canes led the game 3-0. From there, things would go south quickly for the Canes.
Key plays:
The second inning started with a problem that has plagued Miami too often in recent years; walking a hitter immediately after the offense has given you a lead. The Canes were able to catch the hitter stealing, but the mere fact it happened shows one of the issues that the Canes have had in winning big games lately.
In the same inning, Miami makes another mistake with a ground ball to 1B that should’ve been an easy out, but Toral is too far away from 1B to beat the runner to the bad and Bargfeldt fails to cover quickly enough. The announcer indicated it was Escala’s fault, but he is not responsible for covering 1B, he is responsible for backing up the play behind Toral first in case he lets it go and covers. That play was on the Senior, Bargfeldt and it cost the Canes. On a 1-2 pitch Horvath hits a two-out, two-run HR and the lead was down to 3-2. This sequence was a huge moment in the game and is something that has happened too often thus far in the season.
The fourth inning saw Florida take the lead for good. A single up-the-middle followed by a pair of doubles made it 4-3 and the game was essentially over.
Game Two-
In this game Miami truly didn’t give themselves a chance. The leadoff hitter makes an out, but then the next man singles. Where they hurt themselves is by throwing a wild pitch to get him into scoring position. Schwarz walks with a base open, and that’s not a killer yet. Things got bad from there. Florida hits a ground ball to 2B and Escala makes a throwing error allowing him to reach base and load the bases. The next batter walks and forces in a run. In that situation you just cannot walk the hitter. A strikeout would’ve ended the inning without any runs scoring without the error, but then the next batter is hit with an 0-2 pitch to force in another run. Those are the types of mistakes that prevent any chance at winning.
Key Plays-
After getting back into the game and tying it at two apiece, Michael Perez grounds into an inning-ending double play to keep the game tied. Getting a lead in that situation could’ve potentially changed the entire game. Perez had to protect the plate with the count 1-2, but that was a tough ending to the inning when it looked like the team had life.
Passed ball by Amditis in the sixth inning is the third run of the game that was given to the Gators without having to earn it. In a game that was close at the time, this changed the course of the feel of the game. Instead of one swing being able to tie it, now the pitcher has margin for error.
In the eighth the game was put away by mistakes from the Canes. An error leading off the inning made things tough, then another 0-2 mistake allowed for a single to center. Jeremy Cook came in and did not have his control as he proceeded to walk two batters and hit another to allow two runs to score.
Game Three-
The series finale was a game that felt like an important game to the Canes season. Coming into this game Miami had lost nine of their last eleven games with the Gators and had a Baseball American writer indicating on Twitter that “there is no shame in losing to the Gators, but I think it goes far beyond a rebuild.” The same writer also indicated that, “Miami’s true freshmen have been overmatched by UF’s true freshmen.”
Enter Evan McKendry to make everything seem a bit better in the world. McKendry dazzled the reported 3,388 fans in attendance, not giving up his first hit until the fifth inning (a cringe-worthy play involving a pop-up landing directly on the mound in a tie game for a double.” Using an outside corner that was being called off the plate for both sides all day, McKendry consistently kept Gators hitters off-balance with a fastball in the low-90’s and a changeup that was a true swing-and-miss pitch. The sophomore righty is showing the makings of a true ace for this staff.
Key Plays-
In the second inning, the Gators’ leadoff hitter walked and stole second base. He then advanced to third on an aggressive base running play on a ground ball to shortstop. McKendry got the next Gator hitter to strike out on three pitches and then kept them off the scoreboard with a fly ball to right field.
In the third inning Miami missed a major opportunity. Zamora was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and Escala followed with a ground ball single to left field on an 0-2 pitch. Fifth-year senior Michael Burns was sent up to bunt the runners over and was unable to get the bunt down, then struck out swinging on a ball in the dirt. The Canes ended up not scoring in the inning and that inability to execute could’ve cost the Canes the game.
With two outs in the fifth, Escala doubled down the left field line and Bursn redeemed himself for his earlier mistake by getting double to score Escala and give the Canes the lead.
In the seventh, Cabezas ran into some self-inflicted trouble when he walked the bases loaded but was able to avoid damage by getting the Gator hitter to fly out.
In the seventh, Miami really did some things you want to see them do much more often. Escala battled for nine pitches before drawing a walk. This walk moved Zamora into scoring position and Burns made it count by driving a ground ball the other way for a single and RBI. If Miami can continue battling in key spots and drawing more walks and driving the ball the other way for hits in key situations, the pitching will help the Canes win a lot of games.
Series Statistics-
Batting Average on Balls in Play- A measure to indicate the batting average on balls that were in play by hitters (removes strikeouts and home runs and can help analyze luck and/or quality of contact).
Florida- .250
Miami- .282 (ACC average is .335)
wOBA- This uses linear weights to determine how each individual action contributes to scoring runs for that run environment.
Florida- .318
Miami- .277 (ACC average is .365)
BB% and K%- The percentage of walks or strikeouts per plate appearance for each team.
Florida- 11.9% walks, 20.3% strikeouts
Miami- 4.5% walks, 25.5% strikeouts
Freshmen hitters- Mainly, I wanted to check the stats for what the Baseball America writer indicated.
Florida- .000/.091/.000 batting line in 10 at bats for a .000 wOBA and two errors in the field.
Miami- .200/.304/.200 batting line in 40 at bats for a .275 wOBA and two errors in the field.
It is incredibly difficult to be a freshman hitter and compete at this level immediately.
Overall-
Miami made a lot of mistakes in this series and one area that Florida really made their mark was in their ability to take walks while Miami hitters were more aggressive at the plate and swung at pitches out of the strike zone in key situations. Florida had an 11.9% walk rate to Miami’s minuscule 4.5% rate. The key to winning baseball games is to get on-base and when you do make contact, make hard contact. The Florida Gators have a very good baseball team, and especially pitching staff, they will hold a lot of offenses down and with this many freshmen in the lineup, they were bound to struggle. As the season goes along there is a major opportunity to improve their run scoring chances by being less aggressive at the plate and taking more walks. Getting the win versus Florida on Sunday is an excellent springboard to the rest of the season and one that I am confident will be an excellent resume point when it comes tournament seeding time.
