Mike Kaffee
Hurricanes Baseball Reporter
[email protected]
Miami took care of business in the opening round of the Coral Gables Regional by caging the Maine Black Bears in grandiose fashion. Miami sizzled through the first two innings putting a 7 spot on the board with a pair of HRs by Edgardo Villegas and Yoyo Morales. The offense once again did it long ball fashion accounting for 7 of their 9 runs. While the bats were taking the ball downtown, Gage Ziehl was doing likewise to the Maine batters striking out the first 7 of 10 batters faced and reaching the century mark for the season in the number of strikeouts. The only run Maine could scrounger up came in the 4th inning on an attempted pickoff at third that deflected off the bag allowing the runner to score (unearned). After the sizzling first two innings, the energy at the plate fizzled only coming up with one hit (double) through the 6th. Blake Cyr rekindled the spark in the 7th with an opening double followed by a Zach Levenson Special to left center marking the 115th bomb for the year and putting the final caging of the Black Bear 9-1.
Miami didn’t waste any time putting runs on the board. After Gage struck out the side in the top half of the first, CJ opened the Cane’s half of the inning with a leadoff single. Edgardo followed on the third pitch which brought the capacity crowd into a screaming frenzy with his 7th homer of the year to right center giving Miami a 2-0 lead.
Things didn’t slow down in the second as they battered around the order starting with Dominic opening with a single to right. CJ double to right center brought in the first of 5 runs for the inning. Edgardo followed the RBI double of CJ’s with an RBI single scoring CJ from second. Then it became Yoyo’s chance to bring the fans to their feet once again with his 17th of the year clearing the fence in right-center (3RBIs).
After 7 runs in two innings, the pedal came off the metal as our bats went into hibernation only able to come up with a lone double by Renzo Gonzalez in the 5th but was doubled up on Dominic lining into a 3-6 DP.
The double in the 5th by Renzo stirred the sleeping Canes as they finally awoke in the 7th with a lead-off double by Blake (his second). HRs being the order of the day, Zach commemorated the 115th of the season taking it to left-center capping off a three-HR day for the Canes as they cruise into the winner’s bracket and face off against Texas who took care of their business with the Ragin Cajuns 4-2 in the earlier contest.
It wasn’t just the hitting that stood out tonight but the pitching put on a showcase as well. Led by Gage Ziehl that took us through 6 striking out 7 without a walk and giving up the only run for the Black Bears which was unearned. The Bullpen of Rosario, Chestnutt, and Perez each pitched an inning only giving up a double in the 9th and their only baserunner in the final three innings. It was a total team effort tonight which hopefully will carry over tomorrow. The entire BP is ready to answer the call when needed.
It was definitely an offensive showcase with a trio of HRs behind 11 hits. Leading the charge 4 players with multiple numbers: CJ Kayfus 2-4 (double,RBI); Edgardo Villegas 2-3(HR,2RBIs); Blake Cyr 2-4(2doubles); Yoyo Morales 2-4(HR, 3RBI). Additionally with extra bases: Renzo Gonzalez(double) and Zach Levenson(HR).
Tomorrow is another day and Texas will definitely will be a much bigger challenge for the Canes to confront. They have the pitching as well as the hitting. If we continue to play like we have been the past couple of weeks we will be just one game away from the Super Regionals. Stanford won their opener against San Jose 13-2. Game time set for 6PM depending on the weather.
