On a dreary and rainy Wednesday night, the ‘Canes lit up the night sky with a dazzling display of power, launching five homers en route to beating Villanova 12-2.
Senior captain Dorian Gonzalez Jr. took center stage, blasting two home runs on the night. He brought in five runs as he continues to produce at the fifth spot in the lineup. Three other ’Canes blasted homers on the night with Max Galvin, Bobby Marsh and Derek Williams trotting the bases.
On the pitching side, right hander Reese Lumpkin got the nod to start, going for five innings and getting his second win on the year. He’s been a consistent presence in the midweek games as he started the previous two midweek games against FAU and FGCU. Left hander Rob Evans and righty freshman Tate DeRias took care of the remaining innings allowing no runs or hits.
The Hurricanes ran riot in the first inning against Villanova’s JP Podgorski, once again taking advantage of errors to score runs. Sophomore Daniel Cuvet reached base on an error, which Max Galvin immediately punished with a homer to left field. Galvin’s bomb set the tone as Jake Ogden followed it up with a double and Gonzalez Jr. launched the second homer of the inning to make it a 4-0 ball game.
Villanova attempted to get back in the game in the third after sloppy defensive work led to a run being plated for the Wildcats, but it was met with a quick reply by “Bobby Barrels” himself. Designated hitter Bobby Marsh launched his third homer of the year to nullify the errors at the top of the inning, which was followed by a pair of doubles from Williams and freshman Brandon DeGoti to make the score 6-1.
The Villanova staff settled down from that point and held the ’Canes to one run through the sixth, courtesy of an Ogden sacrifice fly.
Lumpkin did give up a run in the fifth, but he limited the damage to only one as he handed the pitching duties over to Evans. The lefthander from New York pitched well across the next two innings, striking out three.
In the bottom of the seventh, Miami inched closer to the 10-run mercy rule as a Marsh double and Williams 2-run homer pushed the game to 9-2.
But not to be outdone by the hitters, Tate DeRias had an electric inning of his own in the top of the eighth. The freshman right hander struck out the side in an impressive display of power and command. DeRias sat 95 mph and painted both sides of the plate as he continues to impress many.
UM began to lock in on the mercy rule in the bottom of the eighth with freshman Fabio Peralta and junior Renzo Gonzalez got on base with a pair of singles. It left Gonzalez Jr. only needing one swing to end it, and he did. The captain launched a pull-side homer that just barely wrapped around the foul pole to seal the victory for the Hurricanes with a 12-2 score.
Miami moves to 11-3 on the year while Villanova falls to 6-5. The Hurricanes will be back in action this weekend at Mark Light Field as they host UConn for a three-game series.