Off the heels of a turbocharged series opener win, the Miami Hurricanes (33-13, 13-10 ACC) ran out of gas in the second game of their doubleheader on Friday night, falling 13-6 to the NC State Wolfpack (29-17, 11-12 ACC).
Miami’s ace pitcher Rob Evans (8-3) was dinged with the loss, lasting 3.2 innings while allowing four earned runs across three hits. The southpaw tossed 80 pitches over that stretch, sitting down four batters overall.
Evans, who remains one win away from tying the ACC lead in wins with eight current victories and ranks top five in strikeouts, was not his signature self. The outing marked his first return to the bump since exiting early last Friday night against Cal due to an ankle sprain.
NC State’s Cooper Consiglio (3-3) was credited with the win, punching out nine Hurricanes through six innings of work and 105 pitches. The starter conceded only 2 earned runs over three hits.
After an all-hands-on-deck offensive performance in the first half of Friday’s doubleheader that plated 11 runs in total, the bats sputtered in game two.
The Canes could only muster a team batting average of .132 (5-32), with no player registering more than one hit across multiple plate appearances. All of UM’s runs were produced in a single inning. Two defensive errors added insult to injury as the Hurricanes found themselves on the business end of a rare lopsided defeat.
The Wolfpack struck first when shortstop Christian Serrano blistered a three-run home run 373 feet into deep left field in the bottom of the second to give them an early 3-0 lead.
Miami failed to respond until the seventh inning, handing NC State the chance to bury the Canes even deeper into a hole before they could wake up.
Second baseman Luke Nixon laced an RBI double into right field, scoring Serrano to tack on another run in the fourth. The pair finished among the top offensive leaders of the night, each going 2-4 at the dish with a combined 5 RBIs between the both of them.
The home side delivered the knockout blow in the fifth inning, notching seven runs alone to bring the advantage to 11-0. Two self-induced errors and out-of-rhythm pitching stemming from multiple changes at the mound for Miami saw the Pack build an insurmountable lead off of three hits, three walks, and two wild pitches.
Head coach J.D. Arteaga used the colossal deficit to empty out his bench, giving many of the younger players a shot to impress and earn more opportunities going forward.
The Canes tried to claw their way back two innings later, leveraging five walks and two hits — a double from Jackson Hugus and an RBI single from NC State transfer Alex Sosa that brought home two runners — to make it 11-6 at the top of the seventh.
However, the rally was short-lived, as the Wolfpack would add on two more insurance runs that same inning to shut down any hopes of a resurgence.
With both sides splitting the results on Friday night’s doubleheader, everything is left to play for in Saturday night’s rubber match. Miami will look to steal the tiebreaker for their seventh straight series win.
First pitch is slated to be thrown at 7 p.m. with the television broadcast on ESPN2. Radio coverage can be found on the University of Miami’s very own WVUM 90.5 FM.