Clear skies and a beautiful summer day in Charlotte, North Carolina is what the Miami Hurricanes baseball team was greeted with in the second round of the ACC Tournament.
The Canes defeated the Stanford Cardinal in a blowout win, 11-2.
“They did everything we didn’t,” Stanford head coach David Esquer said after the loss.
Miami has showcased mound dominance with star left-handed pitcher, Rob Evans, throughout the season, which was prevalent from the start of Wednesday’s game when Evans retired the side in order in the top of the first inning.
Stanford returned the favor in the bottom of the inning, retiring Miami’s first three batters. The Cardinal’s Charlie Bates scored in the second inning, putting the team on the board off of a one-run double.
It was no problem for Miami, as it quickly responded in the bottom of the second with a homerun from ACC All-Freshman Alonso Alvarez.
The Hurricanes faced the No. 11 ranked Florida State Seminoles over the weekend, falling 2-1 in the series, but managed to take the series finale to avoid the sweep, proving their ability to stay competitive with the nation’s top talent.
Last year, the Hurricanes dropped the opening game of the ACC tournament to the California Golden Bears, but fought their way to a super regional, ultimately falling short of an Omaha appearance by one run.
This year, they secured a bye in the ACC tournament as the fifth seed and the Cardinal are a familiar face for the Canes who made the cross-country trip to Palo Alto back in April, taking the first two games of the series and falling in the last.
Going into the bottom of the fourth inning, the Hurricanes led 3-2, and Max Galvin contributed a two-run single, padding the lead 5-2 going into the fifth.
Alvarez extended the lead once again with another homerun, this time a two-run homer to extend the Hurricane lead to seven.
“They all contributed some way or another,” Miami head coach J.D. Arteaga said about the team’s young talent. “It’s just great signs of what our future looks like and how this team is coming together.”
Miami continued their dominance as Evans captured three strikeouts in the top of the fifth inning alone and Miami’s offense added an extra two runs off of Vance Sheahan’s RBI single and a wild pitch in the bottom of the inning.
Evans pitched for a total of seven innings, with 90 pitches and six strikeouts before Arteaga looked to the bullpen for the left-hander, Jake Dorn who took over in the eighth.
“He leads the charge by all means,” Arteaga said about Evans. “His competitiveness and finding ways to win. Sometimes it’s a slider, sometimes it’s a changeup, today it was a fast ball, whatever it is, he just competes his tail off and just finds a way to win all the time.”
The Canes will face Boston College Thursday in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament at 3:00 p.m. at Truist Field in Charlotte, N.C.
