In front of over two thousand fans at Mark Light Field Saturday afternoon, the Miami Hurricanes defeated the Princeton Tigers 10-3 in the first leg of a doubleheader.
Miami’s Junior transfers stole the show once again with right hander Griffin Hugus striking out nine across six innings, and shortstop Jake Ogden going 2-4 with five RBI’s. The pair continue to display why they were so coveted in the transfer portal.
Freshman Tate DeRias and transfer Jake Dorn followed Hugus’ stellar start with a solid performance of their own, going three innings with only one run allowed to close the game for the Hurricanes.
But it was Princeton who struck first, with Junior Jake Bold driving a 2-run homer to left in the first inning to bring in Jordan Kelly. From then on the game was relatively quiet with Hugus and Princeton starter Andrew D’Alessio finding their groove on the mound as they made it through the lineup relatively unscathed.
That was until the bottom of the third, where the Hurricanes offense exploded against D’Alessio. A Todd Hudson double got the bats going, and Max Galvin put the first run on the board for the ’Canes with a single up the middle. Then the stage was set for Ogden with the bases loaded and the shortstop launched a grand slam over the left field fence for his first homer as a Hurricane to put the score at 5-2. Even after taking the lead with the homer, the offense continued to fire on all cylinders in the third as a Bobby Marsh RBI single and Derek Williams sac fly put Miami ahead 7-2.
That score remained in place for a few innings as Hugus continued to deal and the Tigers staff settled down.
In the bottom of the sixth, the bats came to life again for Miami. Williams started the rally with a single and stolen base which was followed up by a HBP for Daniel Cuvet, both were driven home by Max Galvin’s double who himself was driven in by a Jake Ogden double to put the score at 10-2.
Galvin has been one of the ’Canes hottest hitters so far, consistently driving the ball to all parts of the field which has resulted in an average well above .400.
While Miami’s bats went quiet across the last two games with only four runs scored, they came alive in a big way against Princeton with 10 runs on the night.
And despite a late consolation run for Princeton in the ninth, the game was never out of the Hurricanes’ control. With hot bats and dominant arms, Miami (5-1) will face Princeton (0-2) later Saturday night, hoping to continue their positive momentum.