Mike Kaffee
Hurricanes Baseball Reporter
[email protected]
Tonight’s headline behind the headline won’t be another quality pitched performance or Miami clinching their 4th straight or even the 4 HRs clearing the yard, two of which come from freshman Blake Cyr but will read “Miami suffered a devastating loss of Brian Walters for the remainder of the season”.It came in the 6th inning. Brian just completed a 4-6-3 DP with a run-scoring and he started pitching with the bases cleared. He threw a breaking ball pitch to even the count at 1-1. On the call, Brian grabs his right elbow and goes down in pain. This only means one thing: Tommy Johns. X-rays will be taken later to confirm. Miami is already down two pitchers for the season and with the BP as it is this comes as a severe blow not only for the team as a whole but to the Walter’s family. This season was being heralded as the Walter Brothers pitching together probably to be used as setup and closer. JD and Gino now will have their work cut out trying to make the best out of a very bad situation.
Changes to tonight’s lineup had Blake Cyr moving up one slot to bat 6th behind Zack, dropping Ian Farrow to 7th. Dominic batted 8th and Jack Scanlon replaced Carlos giving him the night off catching and batting 9th. Ben Chestnutt was on the mound.
Things did not go exactly as planned in the first inning for Ben. Miami was looking at playing catch-up ball with an early 1-0 deficit resulting from a two-out HR to give the Sycamores the early lead. In each of the 5 innnings pitched Ben would have the same problem in getting the first two outs and struggling to get the all-important 3rd one.
Miami doesn’t play their best when they are in catch-up mode and takes a while to get things going, if at all, into high gear. Tonight, the wait was not long coming in the second with back-to-back lead-off walks (Yoyo,Zack) to open the inning. Blake batting 6th takes the lead back with a 318′ drive clearing the fence in left-center. This was his 2nd HR in as many nights.
Like a swarm of sharks smelling fresh blood in the water, the bats struck hard and viciously the following inning with Edgardo striking the light post in left-center about halfway up (416′). With the waters still boiling, CJ Kayfus follows up with the team’s first triple to right-center. Not to be outdone Yoyo goes a go-go with one of his own to add to his two HRs last night. This luna launch to left-center traveled 414′ to extend the lead to 6-1. Before the game ended, the Sycamores would go through 8 pitchers; three in the 3rd inning alone.
At 83 pitches, Ben’s day concluded in the 5th. He managed to work himself out of a jam with bases loaded one out. To cushion this scare, the Canes added a run in the bottom half of the inning coming off’ the equally hot bat of Zach driving the ball to center. Trying to stretch a double to a triple, for whatever reason, was easy prey at 3rd going 8-4-5. This was not the only poor judgment on base running tonight. There were several instances of poor base running, getting picked off, not catching the steal signal, or trying to stretch for the extra base. Either it is poor coaching or the players on their own. They just need to be smarter.
Trailing 7-1 going into the 6th, Indian State finally got on the board with another run in the 6th and a third run in the 7th. We talked earlier about what happened in the 6th and Rafe Schlesinger after coming in to relieve Brian to get the final out in the 6th, returned in the 7th. Whether his arm was tired from relief duty this weekend but he got himself in a jam loading the bases after getting an initial strikeout followed up with a pair of walks and HP. The call to the BP brought Carlos Lequerica to pitch in relief. Would walk away but not before giving up a SF to center.
Been 3 innings of quietness from the Miami bats. Did have a double in the 7th by Edgardo but left stranded. The 8th Miami stirred the fires once again with a name we have been hearing regularly: Yoyo Morales. Leads off the 8th, going the opposite field for a double. Blake Cyr also a name we are hearing a lot and known by his teammates as Hollywood, does it one more time with his second homer of the night this traveling 403′ to right-center finalizing the scoring at 9-3 for a Miami victory. Alex Walsh would finish the 9th with a trio of strikeouts allowing for one hit.
Offensively, it was another big evening of power-hitting. Four HR (Edgardo Villegas,Yoyo Morales,Blake Cyr(2)); one triple (CJ Kayfus) and 3 doubles(Edgardo,Yoyo,Zach) Nine hits total with three players with multiple numbers: Edgardo 2-3(HR,double,RBI); Yoyo Morales 2-3(HR,double,2RBIs); Player of the Game Blake Cyr 2-4(2HRs,5RBI).
Pitching-wise, the BP took a gut punch with the loss of Brian Walters. Already short-handed they are going to be overworked the remainder of the season if our starters get pulled early. The offense is going to have to maintain the torrid pace they are currently on or we will be looking at some losing numbers in the future. This early resurgence coming from the BP is going to have to dig a whole lot deeper if we expect are going to be able to compete in ACC play and beyond
The first test will come this Friday if Gage is able to rebound from the disastrous start last week. That assumes Gino remains with the same starting rotation. Whichever direction Gino goes the BP better be ready and the bats have to continue pounding away on the rock. The start time Friday for Dartmouth 7PM.
