Miami Hurricanes baseball kicked off postseason play with a statement win over the Troy Trojans, winning 10-5 in the Gainesville Regional.
After a four hour rain delay pushed Friday’s start time to 10:15 p.m., chaos ensued in the wee hours of night.
Up 5-3 in the top of the eighth inning, Austin Peay transfer Lyndon Glidewell took the mound for the Hurricanes. With a runner on first and one out in the inning, Troy’s Drew Nelson smacked a game-tying two-run home run into the Miami bullpen in right center field.
Just an inning earlier, Nelson kept the Trojans in the game with his glove. With two runners on and one out, Miami’s Gabriel Milano unleashed on Noah Thigpen’s fastball and took it deep to left field. Nelson timed up Milano’s fly ball perfectly, making the leaping grab and robbing the freshman of a game-breaking three-run home run.
With limited innings left for the Hurricanes, they responded in a big way.
Max Galvin smacked an RBI double to right field to give the Canes the lead back. Two batters later, Alonzo Alvarez hit an RBI single up the middle to extend the lead to two.
After a Dylan Dubovik sac fly, Brandon DeGoti broke the game open. With two runners on, the sophomore lined a double to left center field, scoring Alex Sosa and Alvarez and bringing Miami’s lead to five.
The Hurricanes positioned themselves favorably heading into the ninth inning as Glydewell secured the win with a 1-2-3 ninth inning, ending the game at 1:45 a.m.
“Glidewell’s been really really good for us all year and the team just really responded and had his back in getting those big five runs there in the bottom of the eighth,” said Miami head coach, J.D. Arteaga on the win.
Miami ace Rob Evans took the mound against the Trojans, pitching for five innings, tallying four strikeouts, two walks and an error in the third inning.
Despite Miami’s recent success, they are tied for first in the ACC for errors, with 85 before the regional matchup against Troy.
With the rain delay throwing off both teams, the scoring wouldn’t begin until the third inning. To lead off the inning, Vance Sheahan hit a solo home run to left field off an 86 mph slider to get Miami on the board.
The third inning also came with an error from both teams. Evans overthrew a ball to first, allowing Troy’s Aaron Piasecki to advance to second.
Troy finally broke through in the fourth inning when Sean Darnell had an RBI single advancing Blake Cavill to home plate.
The Trojans made it a one-run game as Cavill hit a two-run double down right field.
Miami looked to Jack Durso in the bullpen to replace Evans in the 6th inning.
Action didn’t resume for Miami’s offense until the seventh inning when Derek Williams scored on a throwing error by Troy’s Jimmy Janicki.
Chaos unfolded in the sixth inning when Troy requested a replay review of the second base final out. While the play was reviewed, the Trojan’s associate head coach and hitting coach was ejected from the dugout over a dispute.
With the win, Miami will advance to the winner’s bracket of the Gainesville Regional and will face the No. 8 national seeded Florida Gators at Condron Family Ballpark Saturday at 8 p.m.
Sophomore AJ Ciscar is set to take the bump against the rival Gators. With a win, the Hurricanes advance to the Gainesville regional final.
