After out-scoring the Princeton Tigers 28-5 in the first three games, the Miami Hurricanes continued their dominant play on Sunday, winning 8-0. At Mark Light Field, a grand slam from Bobby Marsh and six electric innings from Brian Walters led the way for the ’Canes this afternoon.
With the bases juiced in the first, Bobby Marsh decided to empty them. On the second pitch of the at-bat, “Bobby Barrels” took Princeton’s Liam Kineen to the opposite field, sending his first home run as a Hurricane over the wall in left. The Penn State transfer’s grand-slam gave UM a commanding 5-0 lead in the first inning.
“I was looking for a pitch somewhere over the middle of the plate that I knew that I could handle,” Marsh said. “I was looking for a fastball.”
UM starting pitcher Brian Walters was brilliant this afternoon for the Hurricanes. In six dominant innings of work, the redshirt junior surrendered no hits. He allowed two walks while striking out nine batters. Walters threw 71 pitches, 49 for strikes.
“We’ve done a good job with that [getting strikeouts],” Miami head coach J.D. Arteaga said when talking about the early success this season. “We’ve been very consistent on the mound, our defense has been solid.”
On Saturday, Jake Ogden hit his first grand-slam of his Miami career. With the bases loaded on Sunday, the shortstop lined a single up the middle to open the scoring for the ’Canes.
In the third inning, Ogden put himself on notice to SportsCenter’s top-10. On a well-hit ball from Isaac Lamson, the sophomore made a superman dive to his left, got up and threw a dart to Michael Torres to get the sliding Lamson at first.
“Instincts took over there,” said Jake Ogden when talking about the diving play.
Ogden had himself a weekend for the ages against Princeton (0-3). Over the course of the three days, the UNC Greensboro transfer shortstop went 6-for-10, hitting one home run and tallying seven RBIs against the Tigers.
Kinnen struggled this afternoon in his first start of his college career. The freshman from Lexington, Mass. went three innings, allowing five runs on four hits. Kineen struggled finding the strike zone, walking four Hurricanes and hitting another two. In the 68 pitches that he threw, 31 were for balls.
In the top of the seventh frame, Tigers’ Nick Shenefelt lined a single over the head of Ogden, off of UM’s Carson Fischer. Shenefelt’s first career hit ended the Hurricanes no-hit bid after 6.2 innings.
After scoring six in the first three innings, the Hurricane bats fell silent until the seventh. In the seventh, Ogden and Dorian Gonzalez Jr. hit RBI single’s of their own, extending UM’s lead to eight.
Before the game on Sunday, the Miami Hurricanes honored Mitch Freedman, the creator of the Mark Light Shake, as they celebrated 40 years of the famous tasty milkshakes.
Miami (7-1) will stay home this week, hosting the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles (4-3) on Tuesday. The Eagles are coming off a weekend sweep over the Stony Brook Seawolves.
Graduate Student Reese Lumpkin is likely to toe the slab for the Hurricanes at Mark Light Field. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.