A thrilling Miami Hurricanes victory over Florida State set the stage for a rubber match of the three-game series at Mark Light Field. Miami looked to get its season back on track and take the series against No. 5 Florida State, while the Seminoles were looking for a bounce-back victory.
After a competitive first three innings of the ball game, Florida State took over in the fourth and did not look back, winning 10-6 to take the series.
The freshmen were the bright spot for the Hurricanes. Fabio Peralta, who was penciled in the two-hole in the lineup, had himself a night at the plate. He started his night off with a single up the middle in the top of the first, allowing junior Jake Odgen to advance to third and later score.
Fast forward to the sixth inning when Peralta hit a line drive to right center, turning a single into a hustle double. He hit another single down the middle in the eighth. Peralta used his speed to rack up two stolen bases.
Brandon DeGoti started at shortstop for the second consecutive game. He hit a towering blast on top of the scoreboard in left field.
On the pitching side, Michael Fernandez came in to relieve Jackson Cleveland in the top of the sixth. Fernandez had two three-up and three-down innings. Miami head coach J.D. Arteaga chose to let Fernandez go back out on the bump in the eighth. He gave up a solo home run to Florida State’s Max Williams and an additional hit before getting out of the inning.
Lazaro Collera worked a 1-2-3 inning in the ninth before Miami attempted to claw back from a 10-6 deficit, where it had no luck.
FSU scored 10 runs thanks to a big fourth inning. Brian Walters, the redshirt junior and Florida native, had a quality first three innings, allowing only two runs. Walters allowed three consecutive base knocks and then walked Carter McCulley to tie the game at three apiece. Seminoles leadoff hitter Gage Harrelson hit a single up the middle to score two runs. With no outs in the inning and FSU up by two, Arteaga put Carson Fischer in to pitch.
Fischer struggled against one of the best offenses in the country. He allowed three hits and a walk, allowing four runs before Cleveland was tasked with getting the final out of the inning for Miami.
Miami also did some damage in the fourth inning. DeGoti had a home run, and Max Galvin doubled to right field, allowing Peralta and Daniel Cuvet to score after getting walked. After four innings, the score was 9-6 in favor of FSU (20-3, 5-1 ACC).
UM’s bats went quiet the rest of the game while the pitching succeeded. Consistency is something that Miami (14-11, 1-5 ACC) has lacked so far this season. The Hurricanes went on to drop its fourth consecutive series.
Miami will play Stetson on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Mark Light Field for a midweek matchup and then travel to Chapel Hill to take on UNC for a weekend series.