Behind a stellar start from AJ Ciscar, the Miami Hurricanes (32-12, 12-9 ACC) defeated the California Golden Bears (22-20, 7-14 ACC) 4-1 on Sunday to clinch the series after dropping Friday’s opener.
For a Miami team that has built its recent surge on pitching and timely offense, Sunday was another example of the formula working.
The Hurricanes bounced back from Friday’s loss to take the final two games from Cal, securing their sixth straight series win for the first time since 2014 — five straight in ACC play.
Miami handed the ball to former Friday night starter AJ Ciscar for his tenth start of the season.
Ciscar entered with a 4.18 ERA over 51.2 innings and looked to rebound after allowing six runs on six hits in an uncharacteristic 1.2 innings against Stanford last weekend.
The righty looked more like his early-season self Sunday afternoon, throwing 80 strikes on 106 pitches over 7.2 innings, allowing one earned run before being taken out to a standing ovation.
Miami made its first mark in the bottom of the second after Vance Sheahan and Brylan West opened the inning with back-to-back hits to put runners on second and third. Freshman Gabriel Milano followed with an infield single, giving the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead.
The third and fourth innings turned into a pitcher’s duel between Ciscar and Otto Espinoza, as both teams combined for two hits during that stretch, both by the Golden Bears in the third.
Cal went to the bullpen in the fifth while trailing 1-0, calling on senior right-hander Ethan Foley to face the top of Miami’s order. It was a move coach Mike Neu probably wanted back almost immediately.
Jake Ogden and Max Galvin opened the inning with back-to-back bloop singles before catcher Alex Sosa followed with a single to right field, scoring both runners and extending Miami’s lead to 3-0.
With Sosa on second, Brylan West nearly added to Miami’s lead with a deep fly ball to right field. Cal right fielder Gannon Snyder tracked it down near the wall, crashing violently into the padding while taking away an extra-base hit, leaving the Light shocked he was able to run back to the dugout.
Ciscar ran into trouble in the top of the sixth, allowing three consecutive singles to load the bases with no outs. After a mound visit from pitching coach Laz Gutierrez, Ciscar limited the damage by inducing a double play that scored one run and a lineout to shortstop to end the inning with Miami still ahead 3-1.
In the sixth, Sheahan and Milano struck again.
Sheahan laced his second double of the game as Milano followed with an RBI single for his second multi-RBI game of his young career.
Despite loading the bases and Miami’s top hitter, Derek Williams, at the plate, the Canes could not break the game open. Williams flew out to deep center, allowing the Golden Bears to escape the inning.
Ciscar’s day ended in the eighth after he struck out back-to-back batters. Miami coach J.D. Arteaga then called on senior Lyndon Glidewell for a right-on-right matchup, and Glidewell ended the inning by striking out left fielder Carl Schmidt.
The Canes stuck with Glidewell to wrap things up in the ninth. With two outs and the Light on their feet, Glidewell struck out Hideki Prather to clinch another ACC series for Miami.
Sheahan, Milano, and Ogden each recorded multi-hit games, while Milano and Sosa drove in multiple runs, helping secure the victory.
The win gave Miami a 5-2 record in ACC weekend series this season after dropping the opening series to Boston College and Duke in March.
Miami opens its next ACC series on the road against NC State on Friday at 6 p.m. on ACCNX.