The bats won’t be there every day.
Miami’s defense showed its true colors as their offense lulled in a mid-April midweek matchup against the South Florida Bulls.
The 4-2 loss comes off the heels of an impactful series win against Wake Forest, cementing Miami as sixth in the ACC, shocking both the team, and the 3,446 that bore witness.
Notable contributors, despite the loss, were Jake Ogden, who went 2-4 with a double, Alex Sosa and Max Galvin, who both drove in a run with RBI singles.
The Canes had a rocky start to the game, with the Bulls knocking one in before recording an out — Two errant throws subsequently led to runs scored, and Miami faced a 2-0 deficit before getting a chance at the plate.
This is not new for the Hurricanes, whose 49 errors coming into their Wednesday matchup rank just below Duke, who leads the ACC with 50. The three of this game only add to concern for the growing total.
After the sloppy frame, Ogden led the charge in return by roping a ball to left for a leadoff double. Sosa continued the rally in a 3-2 count, adding his own extra-base-hit to the stat-sheet when he looped a ball past the Bulls left fielder for an RBI triple.
With two outs in the first, and still down one, left fielder Max Galvin stroked a ball back up the middle for an RBI single, tying the game at two-a-piece.
A quiet second brought USF back up to the plate, where first baseman Joey Brenczewski would smoke a 1-1 pitch over the right field wall, giving South Florida back the lead.
Another scoreless inning brought the Canes up to bat in the fifth, still down one. Besides a two-out bunt single from Ogden, Miami could not seem to put it together at the plate.
With two outs in the bottom half of the sixth, USF made their first pitching change, replacing Dominic Pontbriant for Landen Yorek.
Pontbriant kept the Canes at bay after the first, pitching four full scoreless innings of his 5.2 inning total — his day ended at 87 pitches, having tallied five strikeouts and only allowed one walk and four hits.
Following USF’s lead, Miami replaced TJ Coats with lefty reliever Jake Dorn to kick off the seventh.
Coats, after six full innings, was one bright spot on Miami’s day. Despite allowing seven hits, Coats heaved three scoreless to end his day, and only allowed one walk, continually giving the Canes a chance to succeed after some early struggles.
Dorn entered a tough spot, and faltered. Under a close deficit, he plunked two batters, with one ultimately being USF’s fourth run scored, bringing their lead to two.
A single from catcher Alonzo Alvarez rang in another call to the bullpen for USF — which ultimately resulted in a fielder’s choice for the final out of the inning.
Dorn was replaced by Sebastian Santos-Olson in the eighth, who returned to the trend of scoreless innings, giving the Canes another opportunity to come through.
With the Bulls’ fourth pitcher of the game taking the mound, and the top of the lineup due, Miami once again stumbled at the plate, going three-and-out aside for a walk from Alex Sosa.
Despite a walk and a single from first baseman Brylan West and Galvin, respectively, it was too little too late. A lineout to the shifted USF shortstop off the bat of Alvarez led to an easy double play, putting emphasis on Miami’s woes for the evening.
The Canes look to regain their footing in Palo Alto, Calif., as they take on the Stanford Cardinal in a three-game series beginning Friday, April 17 at 9 p.m. EST.
