Mike Kaffee
Hurricanes Baseball Reporter
[email protected]
The seven-game winning streak came crashing down on the playing field at Boca. FAU with a late rally in the 7th retakes the lead and holds off the Canes with BL in the 8th to get the win. For the Canes the game came to be summarized in two words: Missed Opportunities. 14 men left on base with bases loaded on three separate occasions and nothing to show for it. With runners in scoring position time and time again, you can’t expect to win ballgames if you leave them stranded. Second inning, BL: Nada. 3rd inning runners on the corners: Nada. 4th inning man on second no outs: Nada. 6th inning with the opportunity to blow the game wide open three runs already in, runners on 1st and 2nd no outs: Nada. 7th inning BL one out: Nada. 8th inning BL: Nada. 9th inning man on second: Nada. One needs not say more. Tonight, this was a team not ready to play.
If not broken don’t fix it. There is a reason that saying exists. Tonight Gino, thinking otherwise had some notable changes to the lineup, and for the most part backfired. Dario and Edgardo switched once again in the one-two spot with Dario leading off. Dario had a pair of hits and Edgardo was 0-5. CJ and Yoyo also switched with Yoyo moving back to the 3rd position. This is where his bat belongs to give him the extra at bat. It paid dividends in the first to give us the early lead. Cyr who was DH was back at 2nd with Dorian out of the lineup batting 6th. Ian returned to the lineup as DH batting 7th. If not for his 5 hits tonight we would not have even been in the game. Jack Scanlon was the catcher of choice giving Carlos needed rest. Why Jack, who has yet to record a hit to start over JD is still a mystery to me. For his troubles, Jack is still seeking that initial hit after being struck twice and striking out once before Carlos replaced him. He couldn’t hit while at Oregon batting around .165 and he is following the same tradition. It is time to re-evaluate who the #2 catcher on the team should be. Ben Chestnutt on the mound. Again second guessing Gino, I would have given the rock to Alejandro Torres for his performance last week. I have been very skeptical all preseason about Chestnutt’s pitching ability and after tonight more so.
Things looked very bright in the first inning with Yoyo taking an 0-2 pitch to LF for his 4th HR of the year giving the Canes the early lead of 1-0. FAU tied it in the second with a lead-off round-tripper.
The second inning would be the first of many missed opportunities for the Canes not being able to capitalize with men in scoring position. BL, two outs, Dario flies out to right.
With the score tied at one, A lead-off error,E6, to start the third, under the glove of both Ben as well as Dominic put a runner on first which would set up a chain of events resulting in 3 runs. The next batter hit by pitch bringing to the plate their equivalent of Yoyo. First baseman Nolan Schanuel drives a bomb to right the first of two round-trippers for the night. FAU retakes the lead
4-1.
The Canes chip away at the lead next inning,4th, on an E7 error scoring Ian all the way from first. The 4th would see the departure of starter Ben Chestnutt after allowing a walk and a single. Chris Scinta in relief, locked it down striking out two. Picked up another pair of strikeouts in the 5th to complete his day.
The 6th, the pendulum swung once again with The Cane retaking the lead with three runs but should have been more. Blake opened the inning with a lead-off single which Ian followed up with his third hit of the day and his 2nd HR of the season. FAU still looking for their 1st out walk Dominic and hit Jack for the second time. With runners on 1st and 2nd, Dario gets an RBI single. 6-4-3 DP by Edgardo puts the stoppers on for the inning. We ended the inning with runners on 2nd and 3rd. For the moment Miami retakes the lead 5-4.
Miami had a chance to add to the lead in the 7th having BL one out only to Chris Perez,PH for Scanlon, who hits a liner back to the SS, steps on second for a DP. That’s two DPs in two innings.
Bottom of the 7th, Ronaldo Gallo was on the mound having relieved Scinta at the end of the 5th. His time would draw to a close after giving up a lead-off HR to Nolan Schanuel, his 2nd of the evening, to tie the score at 5, followed up with a double and WP sending Gino to the mound. In comes Andrew Walters to stop the bleed with the score tied and a runner at third one out. The first batter strikes out, and the second up to bat gets by Andrew for a single through the middle for the go-ahead run.
Miami in the 8th with a chance to cause damage having BL once again only to see it end with Dorian,PH for Cyr, hitting into a 6-3 groundout. The 9th, with one last crack to tie the score, man on second, Perez records the final out ending the streak of 7 consecutive wins.
Offensively, we just didn’t get the job done. Of the 10 hits, only two (HRs) The rest all singles. you can’t win ballgames with eight scattered hits leaving 14 on the pads. Five of our starters came away with nothing. Only 3 with multiple numbers: Dario Gomez 2-6 (RBI); Yoyo Morales 2-3 (HR,RBI); Ian Farrow, offensive player of the game 5-5(HR,2RBIs)
Pitching, with the exception of Chris Scinta was marginal at best. Even Andrew was not at his best giving up 3 hits which is so unlike him. Ronaldo maybe is good for an inning but going beyond that is like Rosario, you never know what to expect. I would be thinking Torres for mid-week and use Chestnutt as a mid-reliever. As the season progresses the BP is going to be taking its toll.
The offense is better to be ready to answer the call to provide the runs that we are going to need in bailing out the BP
Not a game you would want to hang your hat on. They play like this, and the Gators will sweep. We will have to be more aggressive on the bases and exchange random singles for extra bases. More importantly, capitalize with runners in scoring position. Florida won’t wait around while we go through the motions. Hope I am wrong with all my venting, but we will see Friday first pitch at 630PM.
