Miami’s bats were silent all night, going into the bottom of the eighth inning down 3-2 with Long Island University (LIU) pitching looking dominant. When it felt like the Hurricanes were not going to get anything going, the bats started to explode, lacing line drives to all parts of the field, highlighted by a Daniel Cuvet three-run bomb to seal the 9-3 victory for UM on Friday night at Mark Light Field.
The pivotal eighth inning began with a Dorian Gonzalez Jr. walk, a Jason Torres single and a Gaby Gutierrez walk to load the bases with nobody out. Jacoby Long, in his first start of the year, then blooped a single just out of the reach of the LIU second baseman Noah Sorenson to tie the game 3-3.
After a Jake Kulikowski strikeout, the top of the order was ready to put the game away for Miami. Edgardo Villegas roped a single up the middle, driving in two runs and sending LIU pitcher RJ Latkowski to the ground, as he just avoided getting hit by the liner. Lucas Costello then followed that up with an RBI single of his own to make the score 6-3 in favor of Miami.
Cuvet then stepped up to the plate and sent a no-doubt three-run laser over the right field fence to cap off the seven-run inning and put an exclamation point on the 9-3 win.
After only making it 4.2 innings in his last start, Miami starter Gage Ziehl bounced back with seven strong innings, giving up three runs on five hits with three strikeouts. Ziehl’s only major hiccup of the night occurred in the sixth inning, when LIU first baseman JC Navarro took Ziehl deep for a two-run homer.
This start was a positive sign for Ziehl, as the ability to go deep into games is essential for a Friday night starter. While he did get hit around slightly his second and third times through the Shark’s order, it was a major improvement from his first start.
Freshman UM reliever Nick Roberts had himself a stellar night, tossing two perfect innings out of the pen and tallying two strikeouts. Friday’s performance added on to an impressive early campaign for Roberts, who is looking like he will be a staple out of the Hurricanes’ bullpen in high leverage situations for head coach J.D. Arteaga.
New additions Cuvet and Torres have been productive so far as Hurricanes. In just Friday’s game, the tandem combined for six hits, two home-runs and five RBI’s, carrying the offense to success in Blake Cyr’s absence. The duo manning the corners of the infield are both hitting for an average over .500 and are tied for the team lead in home runs with three apiece.
The ‘Canes will be back in action on Saturday night at 6 p.m. to play game two of three against LIU at Mark Light Field, with starting pitcher Rafe Schlesinger scheduled on the bump.