After falling behind 7-1 on Sunday afternoon, Miami baseball made another massive comeback fueled by an eight-run fifth inning to take a 9-7 lead.
Notre Dame made a slight comeback to tie the game at 10-10, but UM put up two runs in the 10th inning to avoid a series sweep, winning 12-10.
The swing of the day for the ’Canes came in the fifth inning when Jacoby Long hit a three-run shot over the scoreboard to cap off the hit parade. The dinger came after two failed bunt attempts, putting Long in a two-strike count.
Miami, which usually does its damage with the long ball, put together the crazy inning with simple swings and plate discipline. The inning saw 11 Hurricanes come to the plate, logging four singles, two walks, a hit batter and the Long home run as the exclamation point.
Another key to this explosive inning and overall great performance by UM at the plate was offensive consistency throughout the whole lineup. Long as well as Antonio Jimenez, Edgardo Villegas, Daniel Cuvet and Dorian Gonzalez Jr. all had two hits each.
Even with the eight-run inning, nine innings were not enough to finish the job. Luckily for Miami, in the 10th inning, the offense continued rolling with a Villegas walk, Cuvet single, Gonzalez Jr. single and Jason Torres sac-fly to tack on two runs that were enough to win.
Notre Dame had plenty of offensive firepower itself, with designated hitter David Glancy carrying the load. Glancy had two home runs on the day, both in crucial situations. The first was a grand slam off of Herick Hernandez in the fourth inning, pushing the Irish ahead by six runs. The second was a two-run shot off of Nick Robert to tie the game at 10-10 and ultimately send it to extra innings.
Hernandez, who had a rough outing against North Carolina last weekend, had another poor outing again on Sunday. Many Notre Dame hitters looked very comfortable at the plate and feasted on anything he left out over the middle. His final line was 5.0 innings pitched, eight hits, two walks and seven earned runs.
Brandon Olivera and Chris Scinta came on after Hernandez, and both did their jobs, combining for two scoreless innings and getting the ball to the closer.
Robert, Miami’s most dependable reliever all season, got roughed up right as he entered the game. Before he could record two outs, Robert had given up three hits and three runs, including Glancy’s game-tying blast.
Robert settled in after the eighth and shut down Notre Dame in the ninth and tenth innings to earn his team-high fifth win.
On Tuesday night, the Hurricanes will return to Miami to face FIU in a road matchup across town. The ‘Canes beat the Panthers with a walk-off win last week, 4-3, in a highly competitive pitcher duel. Ashton Crowther, who pitched against FIU last week, will likely be on the mound again. The first pitch will be at 6 p.m. on Tuesday at Infinity Insurance Park.