By: Mike Kaffee, Hurricanes Baseball Reporter
The roar of the Tiger was heard early, but could not deter the Canes putting the Tiger back in its cage with timely hits and 9 unanswered runs. Although the HR would play a role in tonight’s series win, the small ball would prove to be indispensable in the victory where getting the lead off batter on base 6 of the 8 innings. Five of which would produce runs. The long ball played its part tying the game in the second, and then would be instrumental with the HR in the 5th marking Clemson’s end and the beginning of small ball taking it the rest of the way. While starter Jordan Dubberly only lasted 4 innings, the BP along with a solid defense prevented the Tigers becoming uncaged and getting back into the ballgame. It was a solid win in all aspects of the game and it appears that the Canes have definitely turned the page.
Bit of a change to the bottom of the lineup. Gil and Toral would shift in the batting order with Raymond batting 6th and Alex 7th. Also shifting would be Gabe moving to the 8th position and Pitelli returning to batting 9th. Jordan Dubberly would get his first start in the Saturday slot moving Victor to the BP for relief work.
The key to tonight’s game was to get beyond 21 outs holding onto a lead to turn it over to Carson to do his magic. Early back and forth by both teams in an early see saw battle would put plan B into effect. That being for the offense to take charge and take it out of the hand of the pitcher and put it to the bat instead. Jordan started out strong striking out 4 of the first 5 batters faced. A 2-2 pitch with one out in the second gave the Tigers the early lead on a Dylan Brewer solo HR.
Didn’t take long for Miami to respond with CDC leading off and likewise taking advantage of the wind blowing out in right ties the score at 1 with his second round tripper of the season.
With one out in the top half of the 3rd, Sam Hall with a full count crushes a ball to left turning the lead back over to Clemson 2-1.
Miscommunications by the Clemson IF between first, second, and pitcher all scrambling for the ball on a Pitelli bloop left 1B unattended. Ruled a hit, this would come back and haunt them with Dominic stealing second and coming home on a RBI single by Anthony Vilar. This tied the score at 2, but it did not end there. An error followed at 3rd letting the ball get by him put Vilar in scoring position at second with Yoyo reaching first on the error. Back to back single by the Brothers earned them each an RBI and gave Miami the lead for the first time to Miami 4-2.
With the craziness of the early innings, it appeared this was going to be a high scoring contest with the wind playing an important role.
Scoring took a time out in the 4th and also mark the end of the day for Jordan Dubberly. Only threw two bad pitches accounting for the 2 scores but at 83 pitches, Gino turned to the BP to start the 5th. Daniel Federman gets the call with the hope he can pitch his way to the magical 8th and turn it over to the STOPPER.
The 5th, with the HR by Yoyo, his 8th, widened the gap to a 4 run lead and the turning of the tide. Small ball and timely hitting would take it the rest of the way. Adding to the 4 run lead in the 6th complements of Clemson’s second error extended the lead to 5. Alex opened the inning with a single to center, bringing Gabe to bat. Ground ball to short set up the DP 6-4-3 but the relay from second gets by the 1B and awards Gabe 2nd base with the ball going into the dugout. Lala with Gabe on second brings him home with a single through the middle.
The final nail in the coffin come in the 7th comes with an opening double down the LF line by Anthony Vilar to set the wheels in motion with a 3 run climax. Yoyo follows up the double with a single putting runners on the corners and DC walking to load the bases. Back to back SF to right by Big Brother and Gil adds two more runs, capped off with and RBI single by Alex ending the 9 unanswered runs by the Canes.
Anthony Arguelles, Gino’s go-to pitcher, closes out the 9th needing 12 pitches to take the batters out in order and securing the series with a score of 10-2. Daniel Federman picks up his 4th win of the season.
Offensively the key to tonight was hitting with RISP(6-10). With runners on 3rd with less than two outs we were a perfect 3-3.Overall hitting was .382 upping it from yesterday’s .342. The bats are definitely finding the opening with a multi numbers of hit. 24 hits (11,13) for the past two days. The only negative is the 12 strikeouts with the inability to hit the curveball. The offense did not end on a high note which hopefully won’t carry over with its 3 strikeouts in the 8th. Only two not to get a hit tonight in the starting 9 were Gil and Gabe. Four with multiple numbers: Yoyo 2-5(HR,2RBIs); CDC 2-3 (HR,3RBIs); Alex 2-4(RBI); Vilar 4-5(double,RBI)
Defense once again 0 errors and solid performance by all. No gem webs tonight for Sport Center.
Pitching, except for two pitches accounting for all of Clemson’s runs, Jordan had a good outing except but a high pitch count at the end of 4 (83), preventing him to get the win by not going 5. The BP took it the rest of the way giving Carson the night off. If things get tight tomorrow, expect to see him come in early in the 7 to close it out. Then again, look for more of the same as we have seen the past two night and not have to use our STOPPER to lock in a SWEEP of the Clemson Tigers.
