Mike Kaffee
Hurricanes Baseball Reporter
mike@gablesinsider.com
The Miami Hurricanes were sliced and diced every which way as the Stetson Hatters handed the Canes their second mid-week loss this season. As Gino stated after the game: “It was a total team effort, in terms of playing poorly”. For the second straight game, Miami’s starter never made it through the third inning. Jake Garland only managed to last 2.2 innings before taking that Walk of Shame to the dugout after the Hatter’s hitters laid the Big Hurt on him slamming him for 6 runs on 7 hits. It wasn’t only Miami’s pitching that struggled throughout the night sending 6 from the BP in an attempt to stop the barrage of hits and runs that befell them but everything else. The poor pitching was complemented by poor fielding. Not reflected on the scoreboard as errors but the fumbling of the ball costing runs. Broken plays kept raising its ugly head more times than not. At bat, they couldn’t string hits together and with RISP they were 1-9 compared to Stetson’s 8-11. 13 strikeouts coming at the most inopportune time. That was the story of the night. Everything fell apart tonight resulting in a very disappointing 12-4 wake-up check.
Standard changes to the lineup with DH and RF. 1-6 same-o, same-o. Zach stayed at the 7 slot as DH, Henry batting 8th still at 2nd replacing Dorian still out with a leg injury and Gaby rounding it out in right. Jake Garland doing mid-week duty on the mound.
By the 3rd inning, the Canes once again found themselves in a hole early trailing 6-0 after the Hatters put up a 5 spot that inning and Jake not making it through the third. The Hatters would put up runs in every inning with the exception of the 1st, 4th, and 9th. Miami had to chip away at the lead not trying to do too much at one time. Every time it looked like they were starting getting the lead-off batter on 6 of the 9 innings, strikeouts or DPs ended any sort of momentum. In the 3rd, Yoyo managed to get one run back after Gaby and CJ went back-to-back with singles and Yoyo avoided the DP by beating the relay 5-4 scoring Gaby. The following inning, a DP negated Burke’s opening single with Zach’s 395′ shot over the scoreboard. Miami pulled to within 4 before Stetson countered with 4 runs of their own digging Miami deeper into the trench they are unable to make any headway with extending the deficit to 10-2 by the 6th.
Miami had one last effort to break into the insurmountable lead they dug themselves into coming into the 6th inning after Stetson had put up the second twisted number in as many innings on the board. Max got his 12th double of the year with one out followed by a single by Jacob. Runners on the corners, Zach reaches first on a throwing error scoring both Max and Jacob. Every time it appeared that Miami is ready to make their move, Stetson throws the wrench into the fire scoring again in the 7th and 8th. Over the course of the next 3 innings, Miami would strike out 7 times with patience running out and everyone swinging for the fences.
Offensively when the bats should have been hot against a team that has been having a losing season 18-21 and 5-13 in their Conference play, Miami didn’t play as their #3 ranking reflected. Hitting was sporadic not being able to string hits together and not doing so through strikes outs and DPs. The box score reflects that only Pitelli and Wallen were without a hit but only 4 runs reflect that the 12 hits among the others tell the rest of the story. Two players with multiple numbers: CJ Kayfus 2-5; Jacob Burke 3-4. Three for extra bases: Yomandi Morales and Maxwell Romero both with doubles and Zach Levenson a HR.
As Gino stated bobbled balls both in the outfield as well as the infield showed the lack of play by the defense. It was an overall poor performance by everyone.
Miami goes into Georgia Tech this weekend and if they play like they played tonight, it is going to be one unhappy series. With two badly played games, Gino has a lot of hard thinking between now and then to turn things around. Sunday is the big question mark on who to start with on the mound. After tonight’s performance by Jake, it is unlikely if Gino will make the move switching out Jake and Alejandro. Carson and Karson better be at their best because Pitching by Committee as shown these past two games is not exactly working. First pitch on Friday at Atlanta 6PM.
