The Miami Hurricanes fell to their rival Florida Gators 22-10 in game two of the Gainesville Regional.
If you’re a Miami fan, you know what the Hurricane-Gator rivalry means to fans, especially in baseball. That energy was radiating at the Condron Family Ballpark as Gator fans flooded the stadium to cheer on their team.
“Knowing that we did the three game sweep, great feeling. I’m glad we were able to do it,” Florida’s Kyle Jones said after the game.
What was a tied game at 8-8 entering the sixth inning ended in a Miami loss by 12 runs.
The night had an explosive start when Jake Ogden hit a solo home run to get the ’Canes on the board right off the bat against Florida’s SEC pitcher of the year, Aaron King, who had only let up three home runs in the season previously.
The Gators responded in the first inning with a statement. After getting on the board via a Miami error by shortstop Vance Sheahan and a sacrifice fly, Florida’s Cade Kurland hit a three-run homerun out of Condron Ballpark, giving the gators a commanding 6-1 lead..
The second inning didn’t bring any promise for the Hurricanes as King had a 1-2-3 inning for the Gators and Miami looked to the bullpen early on, replacing starter AJ Ciscar with relief pitcher Sebastian Santos-Olsen.
“We just gotta keep fighting here,” Miami head coach J.D. Arteaga said to his team when facing a six run hole.
That’s exactly what the Hurricanes did.
In the third inning, Miami put three runs on the board to get back in the game with an RBI double by Alex Sosa and a two-run single by Alonzo Alvarez.
In the fourth, Gabriel Milano pitched in with an RBI single and Fabio Peralta and Ogden contributed two successful bunts to get the bases loaded with no outs.
Miami’s offense proved to be consistent, despite defensive struggles, as the inning was the second straight where it put four consecutive hits together.
Florida looked to their bullpen after King gave up five runs on eight hits.
Miami continued to “jab” at pitches, fighting its way back against the Gators’ early lead. Heading into the sixth inning, they tied it 8-8, and a classic rivalry game was what seemed to be ahead.
By the sixth inning, Miami was deep into their defensive struggles, rotating in their fifth pitcher, Ryan Bilka, from the bullpen.
A familiar stat that continues to hold true with this Miami team is their errors. Following tonight’s game, the Canes are now leading the ACC in errors.
Sheahan’s crucial error on a ground ball, combined with pitching, led to the Hurricanes letting seven runs go on one hit in the sixth inning alone. Out of the 22 runs given up Saturday evening, 11 were earned.
In the seventh, pitcher Tate DeRrias came into the game and had the only 1-2-3 inning for the Hurricanes before chaos erupted in the eighth.
The Gators put together five home runs against the Miami pitcher in the bottom of the eighth, including a homer by former Hurricane Blake Cyr.
“You just gotta play cleaner baseball,” Arteaga said after the game “Our defense has been our Achilles’ heel all season. We just gotta clean it up and play better baseball.”
Following the loss, the Hurricanes know what’s at stake for the rest of the weekend.
“I told the team, if we win, we keep playing. If we lose, we go home and the season’s over,” Arteaga said. It’s a situation we put ourselves in and we gotta figure it out tomorrow.”
The Hurricanes have a chance for redemption Sunday against the Troy Trojans, who they defeated in game one.
If the Hurricanes can shake off last night’s harrowing loss and take down the Trojans, they will face the Gators again this evening in game four.
“I feel like this team especially has had some losses and we immediately bounce back,” Max Galvin said “What’s done is done and all of our focus is on tomorrow.”
