After a series loss to the University of Connecticut Huskies, the Hurricanes took the 235-mile drive up to Orlando on Tuesday for a one-game pit stop before heading further north to Wake Forest. In hopes of building momentum just ahead of ACC play, Miami flatlined on both sides of the ball, losing 14-4.
Coming into Tuesday night’s action, Miami (12-6) starting pitcher Alex Giroux dazzled in his first two appearances in a Hurricanes uniform. Throwing a combined 12 innings, only giving up seven hits, and striking out nine. However, Giroux and the rest of the pitching staff were in for a rude awakening versus the Knights.
Giroux, the right-handed graduate transfer from Hawai’i, gave up five hits and six runs on only 1.1 innings pitched. The Knights worked his pitch count up to 50 before Miami head coach J.D. Arteaga would ask for 7.2 innings out of his bullpen.
The second inning resulted in a slugfest for both teams. In the top of the frame, Miami down two runs, would take its lone lead of the game. After a no-out single from Bobby Marsh, senior outfielder Derek Williams sent a ball 375 feet over the wall in right-center for his third home run of the year. Freshman catcher Nolan Johnson would reach base safely via a hit-by-pitch and score on some sloppy play by the UCF fielders. Miami would take the 3-2 lead.
After a sluggish start to the season, Derek Williams has blossomed in the past week. He has 9 hits, 3 home runs, and his batting average has risen to .308.
UCF toppled on four runs in the bottom of the frame from walks and a couple of nice pieces of hitting including a bases-loaded double to left center by senior Andrew Sundean that scored two. The Knights would take a commanding 6-3 lead after two innings of play.
Grant Siegel, the starting pitcher for UCF (13-3) only threw two innings after giving up those three runs. All through not a bad start, UCF head coach Rich Wallace elected to go to the bullpen for the rest of the game.
Miami used eight pitchers in the game, many of them getting roughed up. Reese Lumpkin, Rob Evans, Carson Fischer, and Michael Fernandez would pitch a combined 4.1 innings to give up 11 hits and allow eight batters to touch home.
Freshman pitcher Tate DeRias had another quality inning in relief, striking out one and allowing no runs. DeRias’s ERA would remain at 0.00.
The Hurricanes’ only other run would come in the sixth inning. After a wild pitch advanced Derek Williams and Max Galvin into scoring position, Todd Hudson would come into pinch hit for Nolan Johnson and hit a single to left center to score Galvin. The score moved to 14-4 and neither team scored in the back third of the ball game.
After a frustrating loss, Miami will head home just for a day to regroup. They will fly out on Thursday for a weekend series in Winston-Salem to face the No.14 team in the country, the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. The first game of the series will be on Friday at 8 p.m.