Seminoles rally to win series against sloppy Canes
The No. 6 Miami Hurricanes baseball program looked nearly invincible this past week, scoring 60 runs in the four games preceding the three-game weekend series at archrival No. 21 Florida State.
But the Seminoles wouldn’t let the Canes’ dominant victory in Saturday’s opener of a doubleheader bring them down, rebounding with a 6-4 victory late Saturday and series-clinching 6-4 win Sunday afternoon at Dick Howser Stadium in Tallahassee.
How fierce is this rivalry? Though the Seminoles lead the 78-year-old series 159133 (with four ties), FSU leads 102-101 (with three ties) over the past 206 meetings.
Florida State (32-18,
15-12 Atlantic Coast Conference), battling to host an NCAA regional, went up for good with three unearned runs in the bottom of the fourth for a 5-3 lead. With two outs but a runner on first after a passed ball strikeout, James Tibbs singled, followed by an RBI-single by Colton Vincent. After a walk, Jordan Carrion reached on a fielder’s choice, scoring Tibbs. Jaime Ferr’s single through the left side scored Vincent.
The ACC’s Coastal Division-leading Hurricanes, who fell to 37-14 and 18-9, are all but assured of hosting a regional, though their No. 6 RPI heading into the weekend will likely drop as they hope to earn a topeight seeding when the NCAA announces its tournament field of 64 on May 30th.
FSU was No. 18 in RPI before the weekend series.
The Hurricanes, who have mostly dominated at the plate and done well pitching, have completely struggled on defense. They had two errors Friday, three Saturday and another Sunday. UM should have been hit with four errors Saturday, but a fly ball that came directly to center fielder Jacob Burke, who misplayed it, was inexplicably ruled a double.
The Seminoles struck first Sunday in the first inning when Ferrer hit a two-run homer after Tyler Martin led off with a single. UM got one back in the second on an RBI-double by Zach Levenson. With FSU up with two outs and the bases loaded, FSU coach Mike Martin Jr. made the unusual move to bring in left-handed redshirt-senior reliever Jonah Scolaro in the middle of CJ Kayfus’s at-bat. Seminoles right-handed starter Carson Montgomery lasted 1 innings and had a 2-1 count on Kayfus, who came into the game with a teamleading .379 batting average.
But it was the right move by Martin, as Scolaro delivered two straight strikes and Kayfus went down swinging to end the inning with the Noles preserving their lead.
The Canes added two runs in the third, and another in the eighth on a home run by Burke.
Ross Dunn (2-4) allowed one earned run on three of UM’s eight hits, and struck out six for the victory. Davis Hare got the save.
Alejandro Rosario (2-3) allowed five runs (two earned) on seven of FSU’s 10 hits for the loss. He walked one and struck out six.
Miami returns to Coral Gables to end the regular season with a Tuesday
night game against Florida Gulf Coast and weekend series Thursday through Saturday against ACC Atlantic Division leader Notre Dame (31-11, 15-9).
After that the Canes head to the ACC tournament
May 24-29 at Truist Field in Charlotte, North Carolina.