On two-dollar hot dog and four-dollar beer night at Mark Light Field, the Hurricanes put on a show. Tallying 13 hits and scoring 11 runs, Miami defeated the Wildcats by a score of 11-1 in seven innings.
Yes, the offense did explode, but the pitching on the side of Miami was spectacular. The 6’6 graduate, Reese Lumpkin, dealt in six innings of work. He only gave up one hit and one run and struck out three batters on an efficient 58 pitches. His lone mistake came in the second inning, giving up a solo shot that just grazed over the 330 sign in left field. The side was retired in order in four out of his six innings pitched.
The entire Miami lineup was scorching hot offensively; five out of the nine batters had two hits.
In the bottom of the third inning, following a hit by redshirt-junior Max Galvin and a walk from Jake Ogden, Fabio Peralta stepped into the left-hander’s batter’s box. On a pitch left out of the plate, Peralta belted it over the wall in right field for a three-run blast.
Going to the sixth, up 6-1, Miami piled on four more runs. Bobby Marsh hit the ball hard through the right side with the bases loaded to score one, and Tanner Smith walked to plate another run. Also in that inning, sophomore slugger Daniel Cuvet scored two on a double to right field.
Back to the fifth, senior Derek Williams, who has been red hot as of late, hit a towering solo blast to left field. The ball was hit 107 MPH off the bat, landing 436 feet away from home plate.
Carson Fischer, the graduate student, has been dynamite in his last few appearances and stayed that way in one inning of relief versus the Wildcats. He struck out two of his three batters to retire the side in order.
Up 10-1 in the bottom of the seventh, all Miami (18-16, 4-8 ACC) needed was one run to end the game. After a single and a steal by Galvin, Ogden laced a ball into left field to score the game-winning run via the 10-run rule.
After a series win against Pitt and a midweek win versus Bethune-Cookman (17-16, 10-2 SWAC), Miami looks to stay hot against Duke this weekend in Coral Gables. Game one is slated for Friday at 7 p.m.