Mike Kaffee
Hurricanes Baseball Reporter
[email protected]
Miami continues to roll with their 8th straight win with a SWEEPING commanding victory over a humbling, disheartened Blue Devils team. After two hard-fought contests, today Duke rolled over after being taken for 7 runs by the second inning and was never being able to regroup and make a game of it. Miami had all three aspects of their game working for them. Behind the hitting of Yoyo and Dominic with 4 hits (2 apiece) and 8 runs (3/5), top tens performances of fielding from Dominic, and quality pitching from starter and BP there was never a doubt. Duke did manage to show some life in the 9th but all too late to even stir the fires to provide the tension of the prior two games. Alejandro picks up his first victory of the season and probably earns the Sunday slot that has been looking to be filled.
Lineup card 1-6 unchanged with Dominic finding a new home locking in the 6th position for the second time. Dorian moved up a slot to bat 7th with two new faces Mike Rosario and Renzo Gonzalez occupying the everchanging DH and RF position in the 8th and 9th slots. Alejandro Rosario looking for his first win of the season on the mound. Gino needed length in his rotation to avoid going to the BP and avoiding pitching by committee.
Gino’s concerns were all put to rest by the second inning after the Cane’s offense lit a fuse and exploded for seven BIG runs in the first two innings. CJ started right off with an opening single to third which was unplayable. Back-to-back walk after Edgardo flew out to left set up the first score of the day. Dominic Pitelli for the second time revisits almost the same spot as Friday evening with his second Grand Salami, 5th homer of the year, going one foot shorter in distance (375′). In the second inning, Miami is in a similar situation of having BL, with three more walks to set it up. Yoyo doing the honors of clearing the bases with a double to left and advancing to third on the throw. Still only one out, but the Canes are unable to improve on the score having Max and Jacob striking out. With a 7-0 lead end of two, all pressure is off of Alejandro and he can pitch his game.
Duke was unable to answer in both of the initial innings although they managed to put runners in scoring position in both of the innings. In the third, even with all the pressure on the back burner, Rosario started showing signs of what led to his early departure in previous games. Open the third hitting the leadoff batter who advances to third on a one-out single. groundout 4-6 gave Duke their initial score. Managed a second hit for the inning before retiring on a 6-4 put-out.
Miami would add to their total in the fifth with a SF to left by CJ scoring Dorian from third. Dorian reached first on an E1, advancing to second on a PH single by Zach Levenson and making his way to 3rd on a SAC by Renzo. The run extended the lead to 8-1.
Rosario started showing signs of being tired in the 5th after putting up a 8 pitch 4th. Started the 5th having no issues then things started heading south with a walk, single, PB, and a second walk to load the bases. With one out, Alejandro reached deep inside himself for a 95 MPH strikeout and ended the threat with a 5-3 groundout.
With 87 pitches through 5, Gino decides rather than go to the BP to let Alejandro come out to start pitching the 6th. As it turns out, it was his best inning pitched only requiring 9 pitches to do so and earning the Sunday slot against Virginia. Finished his day having thrown 93 pitches, giving up one earned run on 5 hits with two walks and two Ks.
The call to the BP brought out JP Gates, Alejandro Torres, and Anthony Arguelles to each pitch an inning. Ziehl and Walters were given a well-earned rest.
Other than yesterday, Miami owned the 8th. 4 runs on Friday, and 3 more today to extend the lead 11-1. Eight batters came to the plate opening with Edgardo walking followed by back-to-back hits by Yoyo (single) and Max (RBI double). Runners on 2nd and 3rd Burke grounds out to first scoring Yoyo. Dominic follows with an RBI single for the third run of the inning and if this was postseason play the Mercy Rule would have kicked in with the 10 run differential.
Gates and Torres were both solid out of the BP taking Duke down in order on 11 and 12 pitches to do so. Arguelles, pitching the 9th, to his credit earned himself 4 strikeouts but in the process gave up two runs on a 2RBI homer by Devin Obee, PH, his second of the year. Alejandro would give up a double and a walk before recording his 4th strikeout of the inning on his 30th pitch. Rosario earns himself his first win, Miami a SWEEP, and sole owner of 1st place in the Coastal Division of the ACC.
Offensively, 9 hits with almost half credited to Yoyo 2-2(double,3RBI) and Dominic 2-5(HR,5RBI). Max was the only other player with an extra-base hit (double). Both had a tremendous series with Yoyo 5-11 with 4 RBIs and Dominic 6-13 10 RBIs with 2 Grand Salamis. This should earn him ACC Player of the Week. On a somewhat downward note, has been the lack of hitting from the bat of Edgardo Villegas. He was 0-13 with 7 strikeouts this series and has seen his average taking a very sudden downward plunge.. Batting average dropped over 100 points. Another person having difficulties has been Maxwell Morales who finally got his first hit today but went 1-10 for the series with 5 strikeouts giving him a team-high with 35. My question is what has become of Carlos Perez. Last seen in the Florida series and wondering if he reinjured himself and is still unable to play full time. Maybe Gino needs to start utilizing JD Jones mid-week or Sunday. If you haven’t noticed, got a hit today and is batting 375 with just a single strikeout. He makes good contact with every appearance.
Miami has a very tough week ahead with two mid-week games against FGCU and FIU before their biggest weekend series of the year to determine the Coastal Leader against Virginia. Miami holds a one-game lead after VA. dropped Friday night 6-4 but came up strong on their remaining two games against GT 13-9 and 18-9. With 5 games on tap, Miami has their work cut out for them. First Pitch Tues 6PM
