Late rally puts host ’Canes in losers bracket

Carson Palmquist’s stellar performance wasn’t enough to save the UM baseball team as the Hurricanes fell to Ole Miss 2-1 in its second game of the Coral Gables regional.

The road to winning the regional now becomes a lot tougher for the Hurricanes (40-19) who had to play an elimination game against Arizona on Sunday night and then would have to win twice against Ole Miss (34-22) today in order to advance to the super regional. (Results were not available at press time).

It was a pitching duel for much of the game as neither team managed to get much going offensively.

Capitalizing on opportunities was an issue for the Hurricanes as they left multiple runners stranded throughout the game, eight in scoring position.

One of the key missed opportunities came in the first inning where Miami was able to load the bases with just one out but didn’t manage to bring anyone home.

Ole Miss’ starter Hunter Elliott was also very effective in quieting the Hurricanes’ lineup.

He limited them to just one run on three hits while striking out 10 batters over five innings.

It wasn’t until the sixth inning that UM finally broke through the 0-0 deadlock.

An RBI sacrifice fly by Jacob Burke scored Yohandy Morales, who scored his fifth run of the regional.

Ole Miss was kept in check for most of the day as Palmquist allowed no runs, two hits, while striking out 10 batters. His 118 strikeouts for the season are the most by a UM pitcher since Cesar Carillo in 2005.

The Hurricanes’ lead would be short-lived however, Ole Miss responded with two runs in the seventh on an RBI double by Tim Elko that scored Justin Bench and Jacob Gonzalez.

That one-run lead would be all the SEC team needed to take home the win, Miami mustered just one baserunner over the last two innings.