Mike Kaffee
Hurricanes Baseball Reporter
[email protected]
Miami coming off one of the worst defeats ever, bounced back in a topsy- turvy classic of a game where Louisville took a chapter right out of the Miami playbook on how to not hold onto a lead. In what started out what was looking to be another rout, Miami showed it still had some explosiveness in its bat to bounce back with a trio of runs in the 3rd and 4th, to wipe out a 4-run deficit. What was now a two-run advantage quickly vanished as Ben Chestnutt who relieved a stumbling Alejandro Torres also found himself in instant trouble with the Cardinals bouncing back to tie the game at 6. Carlos Lequerica who was a sensation in game one earned himself today as The Man to go to when all else fails. Retiring 10 straight(5 strikeouts) after giving up an RBI single charged to Chestnutt, contributed to the 4 unanswered runs Miami was able to mount without an answer from the Louisville bats. With a 4-run lead, Carlos doing more than what could possibly be asked from him turns the ball over to Andrew in the 8th to put the lid on ensuring our second ACC series victory on the road.
Miami and Alejandro Torres got started on the wrong foot right from the very opening. Back-to-back single to start the game followed two batters later with a two-RBI double into the left-hand corner giving the Cardinals an early 2-0 lead. The second only compounded the failings of Miami pitching with a lead-off triple and after a FO to left, it was evident that Alejandro, like his namesake from yesterday, just did not have it. Unlike Rosario, Gino made his move now, rather than wait until the Cardinals stacked up an exorbitant number of runs. Not exactly what Gino was hoping for, but the call was made to the BP after just 1.2 innings. Ben Chestnutt in his herky-jerky style of pitching, appears to force the ball with every pitch rather than showing any finesse. A 4-6-3DP saved him from further damage in the second after Louisville struck for 2 more runs and looked like they were picking up where they left off last night looking for another rout. 4-0 end of 2.
The swing in the momentum came in the 3rd inning with Carlos Perez crushing his 11th of the year to left to open the inning Miami started its climb back into the ballgame. Blake Cyr’s 2RBI double to end the inning put Miami to within one. With the bats just warming up, Carlos riding high on his 11th homer, doubles with one out, and a man on first (Carrier: walk). RISP 2nd and 3rd CJ singles through the middle scoring two giving Miami the lead 5-4. Advances to second on the throw to home. WP advances CJ to third and scores on a FC 6-2 dropped by the catcher. This would be the first of 5 errors which would be one of the major contributing factors to Louisville’s loss today.
6 unanswered runs, but Louisville gets two back in their half of the 4th taking advantage of a pair of walks and a single scoring one and ending Chestnutt’s day leaving runners on the corner. With Chestnutt’s departure, it brings Louisville to within one. Carlos Lequerica’s number is called with runners on the corner. A missed pop up in foul territory by Yoyo which would have been the 3rd out gives a second chance, rewarding the Louisville batter with an RBI single to tie the game at 6. Carlos would retire the next 10 batters extinguishing any hopes of a possible series win.
The Miami offense was finally coming alive and Louisville’s defense was on a course towards utter destruction. The 6th opened with a routine ground ball to short resulting in an E6. A WP totally lost by the catcher and Carrier is standing on 3rd but not for long. CJ with an RBI single breaking the tie. Miami had the opportunity over this inning along with 7th and 8th to put the game totally out of reach. They failed to do so having BL in each of the innings and failing to capitalize on it. DP ended the 6th 9-2 which had CJ being called out at home (reviewed). Missed the bag at home and got spiked in the head trying to tag the plate. 7th, BL for the second time Renzo Gonzalez, PH for CJ who left the game after being spiked in the head, strikes out looking. The same situation in the 8th, but after 3 runs scored, Renzo strikes out again with BL, this time swinging.
The 8th Miami holding on to a one-run lead would mark the total collapse of the Cardinal defense with a trio of errors resulting in 2 unearned and one earned run. Miami would bat around starting with Yoyo’s one-out single to left started the defensive wreck rolling. Catcher interference puts runners on 1st and 2nd. Dorian Gonzalez, PH for Cyr, RBI single to right center advancing to second on an E1 throw to third trying to catch Zach which he scores as a result. One run turns into two. Pitelli’s double to left scores Dorian building the lead to four. It would eventually come to BL two outs with what would have been CJ’s turn at bat before his injury at home, he was 2-4 for the day. Who knows where this might have led with his turn at bat. Luckily it didn’t cause a difference in the final outcome. At the time, this was major. Same scenario for the following inning: both with strikeouts with BL and Renzo at the plate.
With a 4-run lead, Gino doesn’t hesitate to bring in Andrew to finalize this game once and for all. Andrew has never given up 4 runs and today would not be his first. However, he did give up one in the 8th (RBI double) making it a 3-run ball game, but insuring the series victory with a pair of strikeouts in the 9th. Carlos Lequerica got us there and Andrew made sure we stayed there.
Double digits in the hit department with 9 of the 13 hits being singles. Carlos Perez was the only one to leave the park, making only two HRs for the entire series. For a team that lives and dies by the bomb we were fortunate to come away with a W. We have a long ways to go before we can say we are a situational type of team. Three with Multiple hits today: CJ Kayfus 2-4 (3RBI); Carlos Perez 2-4(double,HR,RBI); Yoyo Morales 4-5. Additionally with extra-base hits: Blake Cyr (double,2RBIs); Dominic Pitelli (double,RBI)
Starter Alejandro Torres and reliever Ben Chestnutt both did not get the job done. Neither looked very impressive today. If not for Carlos Lequerica, today‘s story would have an entirely different twist. 5.1 innings pitched this weekend, today being 3.1 and only giving up 2 hits, 1 today and no runs, striking out 6, 5 today. He will or should be the first we look towards coming out of the BP. We aren’t going to go far with what we have and need to make the best of who we do have. That puts Carlos right up there with Andrew. No telling when we might see Karson again and pitching by Committee just doesn’t cut the mustard.
The boys have a rest with no mid-week game due to finals and return to action against Presbyterian Friday night 7PM.
