By looking at the score of game three of the opening series between Miami and Lehigh, one might be confused as to why a college football game is being played in February.
However, it was the Canes baseball team, who demolished the Lehigh Mountain Hawks handedly 27-3.
The majority of the onslaught came in the fifth inning, where Miami tallied a school-record 15 runs courtesy of eleven hits, three walks, two players hit by pitches across three different Lehigh pitchers.
13 different Canes hitters reached base during the inning, symbolic of the dominant force UM posed all afternoon.
On the bump for his inaugural start of the season was Tate DeRias, a sophomore righty who pitched 43 2/3 innings last season. He ended the game with a career-best nine strikeouts, allowing three and was also awarded with the win.
The first inning was quiet before the storm.
DeRias struck out the first two, before a walk and a fly-out to right was matched by a quiet bottom half of the inning for Miami.
After another strong half inning from DeRias, Miami started to put players on base.
Right fielder Derek Williams blasted a double, skimming the left field foul line to put a man on second. First baseman Cian Copeland then lined a single under the first baseman, Trystan Crawford’s diving glove to bring Williams home.
After an Alonzo Alvarez walk, nine-hole hitter Michael Torres brought two more home, and later recorded a run from a Max Galvin sac-fly, to give the Canes a 4-0 lead.
In the top of the third, third-baseman Raffaele Rogers got the Mountain Hawks on the board as he crushed a two-run shot to left field. Derias rebounded, striking out two to wrap up the inning, holding a 4-2 lead. DeRias then went 1-2-3 in the top of the fourth, striking out the side.
The Canes recorded four hits in the second half of the frame. Ogden started with a double into the left-center gap, followed by a Galvin double which drove in a run. Daniel Cuvet then got his season going by smoking a two-run homer onto the soccer field, his first of the year. After Sosa was hit by a pitch in the head, Williams lined a double down the third-base line, bringing him in, extending the lead to 8-2.
The top of the fifth was the last inning the Mountain Hawks put anything on the board. After Rogers was walked, Designated Hitter Aidan Quinn drilled a double off the right field wall to drive in a run.
This marked the end of DeRias’s night, but by the time he came back into the dugout after receiving post throwing treatment, Miami was still up at the plate — in the middle of the aforementioned 15 run outburst to boast a 23-2 lead.
For Miami, sophomore lefty Michael Fernandez was brought in relief for the top of the sixth. He walked down the Mountain Hawks 1-2-3 via two strikeouts, and a ground out.
In the bottom of the inning, freshman and Miami native Gabriel Milano demolished a fastball over the left field fence for his first hit/homer as a Cane. The three-run homer was paired with a Donovan Jeffrey RBI single to extend the lead to 27-3.
Alabama transfer Packy Bradley-Cooney closed the game out against four batters, finishing the game off with a strike-out swinging. The game ended after the top of the seventh through the mercy rule as the Canes led by 10 or more during the seventh.
Miami will return to the diamond six times over the next week, starting on Tuesday, Feb. 17 at 6:00 p.m. EST in a one-off game against UCF at the Light.