With the downtown Charlotte skyline towering beyond Truist Field, No. 5 Miami launched its way past No. 4 Boston College 8-2 in the ACC Baseball Championship quarterfinals.
Down 2-0 after the first inning, a four-run second inning set the tone for the Hurricanes.
Dylan Dubovik scored on a groundout by Vance Sheahan before sophomore Fabio Peralta dug into the left-handed batter’s box and belted a two-run home run to the opposite field for his first homer of the season.
Peralta’s home run was his first of three hits on the day. He not only got the job done with the bat but with the glove as well.
Boston College’s Gunnar Johnson sent a ball to deep straightaway center, where Peralta made a running grab while slamming into the wall in the bottom of the inning.
The fourth run of the inning came on a wild pitch as senior Jake Ogden aggressively ran home
Up 4-2, Miami never looked back.
Miami continued its success against Boston College southpaw AJ Colarusso. In March at Mark Light Field, Colarusso only lasted three innings, giving up eight hits and six runs.
On Thursday afternoon, Colarusso did not fare much better. In five innings pitched, he gave up 10 hits and six runs, managing to strike out five Hurricane batters.
The ball continued to carry out to left field as first baseman Alex Sosa hit a 394-foot two-run shot, his 17th of the year.
After the two run first inning, Boston College’s bats were stagnant for the rest of the game.
Sophomore right-hander Lazaro Collera gave just what his team needed out of him through five innings of work. He struck out four batters while allowing two runs on three hits.
Between the quality at bats and the great pitching it seemed as if this was one of the Hurricanes most complete wins of the season.
Nick Robert came in to relieve Collera, allowing two hits in the sixth inning. The Miami bullpen shutdown the Eagles in the back third of the ballgame as Jack Durso, Packy Bradley-Cooney and Lyndon Glidewell each threw one inning allowing no hits.
Boston College’s bullpen was mostly able to tame the Hurricanes bats in the back half of the game. Five of its relievers combined to allow five hits and two runs.
With one out in the top of the seventh and Dubovik standing on first, third baseman Gabriel Milano hit an RBI double down the right field line, extending the Canes lead to five.
Milano has been impressive offensively over the past few weeks as he went 3-for-4 against the Eagles. Dubovik also picked up a pair of hits in five at-bats.
The Hurricanes put together the finishing touches offensively in the eighth as Derek Williams scored on a fielder’s choice to move the score to 8-2.
With the win over the Eagles, Miami advances to the semifinals for the first time since 2024. They are set to face No. 1 seed Georgia Tech at 1 p.m. on Saturday. The game will air on ACC Network/ESPN and can be listened to on WVUM 90.5 FM.
