Nothing was going to stand in the way of Rob Evans and a win for Miami Friday night at Mark Light Field.
He faced off against Wake Forest and their sophomore ace Chris Levonas, who came into the matchup with only a 2.08 ERA — but Evans couldn’t care less.
Miami’s southpaw gritted through 6.2 innings of one-run baseball, throwing 103 pitches in the process while striking out five, setting the Hurricanes up for a statement 3-1 win over their conference opponent.
Every time the New York native retired the side, a triumphant scream and fist pump echoed through the ballpark — letting everyone in Coral Gables know he wasn’t going to be beat.
That energy was matched by the fans, who were deafeningly loud all night, understanding how crucial this game was for this Hurricanes side.
With former MLB superstar Alex Rodriguez and iconic Mark Light shakes in hand, the tone was set for a beautiful night of baseball — and the fans were treated to just that.
Evans and Levonas flexed their pedigree from the jump, working through opposing hitters at will. What made it interesting was neither ace generating plenty of strikeouts to do so, both let hitters put the ball in play with effective pitch sequencing.
Miami’s hitters in particular struggled to begin the matchup. Despite coming off a 9-7 win over FIU on Tuesday and averaging more than eight runs a game in ACC play, the Canes were held hitless through four innings.
Granted, some solid contact was made with lineouts to the outfield, but overall Miami had no match for Levonas.
And with Evans laboring on the mound to keep the game scoreless, the Hurricane bats finally rewarded his efforts in the fifth inning.
Midseason Golden Spikes Award nominee Derek Williams fittingly got the rally started with a single to right to break up the hitless outing for the Canes. After a walk from Brylan West and consecutive fielders choice plays, Williams came around to score, giving Miami a much-needed one run cushion.
But Miami wasn’t done supporting their pitchers’ standout performance.
After a Daniel Cuvet double and Alex Sosa walk in the bottom of the sixth, Wake Forest opted to pull Levonas from the game for Marcelo Harsch with the ever-dangerous Williams at the plate.
Williams couldn’t care less, lacing a double down the left field line to score both Cuvet and Sosa, hyping up the UM dugout and crowd in the process.
With some insurance runs on the board and only three innings remaining, Miami was in arms-length reach of a crucial series opening win.
However, after Evans gave up his first run with two-outs in the sixth and placed two runners on, head coach J.D Arteaga called in Austin Peay transfer Lyndon Glidewell in to put out the fire.
Miami’s bullpen has been its achilles heel all season, but on Friday against Wake, the bullpen was its secret weapon.
Glidewell struck out Dalton Wentz with a beautiful changeup to retire the side, chest-pumping all the way back to the UM dugout.
He would return for the eighth, notching two outs before the ball was turned over to lefty Frank Menendez who recorded the final out of the inning.
The Florida transfer would return to close the game out in the ninth, but after giving up two walks, coach Arteaga made the point to the bullpen for his closer, Ryan Bilka.
A preseason All-American who’s had his ups and downs this season, Bilka blocked out all the noise and slammed the door on a possible Wake Forest comeback, recording all three outs via a popout and a double play.
Miami (26-8, 7-5 ACC) lined up on the mound for postgame celebrations, with a clear message to the rest of the conference sent.
The Hurricanes will return to face Wake Forest at the Light tomorrow night, aiming to secure a third-consecutive ACC series win at 6 p.m.