Canes Baseball : One Step Forward, Two Back

The above image says it all. A three-game series at Virginia Tech, which No. 6 Miami was looking to sweep, wrapped with two straight losses and another ‘back to the drawing board’ moment for head coach Jim Morris and his Hurricanes.

A week ago this blog (and many other logical, long-time fans) cautioned fans to not get too high over a three-game sweep of then-No. 3 North Carolina.

Besides it just being one series and the fact a lot of baseball remains, Miami has been consistently inconsistent all season. Even before heading north to Blacksburg, the Canes dropped a mid-week home showdown with lowly Florida Gulf Coast. The previous week, a Wednesday loss to Central Florida days after losing two of three at Clemson.

The road has been troublesome for Miami this season, which doesn’t bode well with a trek to Tallahassee on the horizon and a showdown with No. 2 Florida State.

Mid-March had Miami dropping a series opener at Duke, 5-1, before responding with wins on Saturday and Sunday. Weeks later Clemson took their two of three from UM and this past weekend, the issues against Virginia Tech – at a point in there season where the Canes should be hitting their stride, not unraveling.

Eric Erickson got the Friday night win; a 6-4 contest that Miami put away in the late innings, scoring four runs in the seventh, eighth and ninth. Erickson allowed six hits and two runs to the second-best hitting team in the ACC.

Michael Broad opened the seventh inning with his second double of the game and a batter later Tyler Palmer laid down a sacrifice bunt that moved Broad to third. A Dale Carey strikeout was followed by an intentional walk of Peter O’Brien and an unintentional walk of Brad Feiger. With the bases loaded, Chantz Mack roped the first offering of Manny Martir to right, driving home Broad and Palmer.

The Canes added one more in the eighth and ninth, the latter coming on a miscue from the Hokies’ infield, securing the 6-4 victory, but the celebrating ended there as the next two contests were surrendered in frustrating fashion.

Miami rode a 4-3 lead into the bottom of the eighth and from there, the bullpen failed, giving up a tying run in the eight and the game-winner in the bottom of the ninth. The Canes’ bullpen had only given up one earned run in the previous twenty-seven combined innings. Adam Sargent was credited with the loss after issuing a based-loaded walk to end Game Two.

Sunday’s rubber match proved to be the true heart-breaker, though. It’s almost as if the Canes are inventing painful ways to fall apart.

After trailing 1-0 from the third inning on, the Canes picked up two in the ninth and took the 2-1 lead. After Carey walked, O’Brien was hit by a pitch. Feiger then laid down a bunt to load the bases and Mack roped a two-RBI single to take the lead and seize momentum.

The bottom of the ninth; utter failure. Out the gate, closer E.J. Encinosa allowed a single and hit a batter. After a bunt loaded the bases, Encinosa hit another batter, tying the game, 2-2. From there, a walk-off, game-winning single made it , 3-2 and gave the Hokies their first series win over the Canes since 2010.

Even more frustrating, a wasted performance from Steven Ewing, who struck out seven Hokies and allowed only one hit through eight innings of work.

The theme of this season for Miami baseball seems to be one where something seeming always goes wrong.  Defensive miscues. Bats going cold. A lack of bullpen support. Hit batters. Most frustrating is this culture of being unable to close. Fighting back late and falling short – that’s not a characteristic of championship caliber teams. If anything, it’s the exact opposite.

Great teams find a way. They have that intangible. When the game gets tight, solid teams play loose and seemingly always get it done. Sitting here in mid-April, that couldn’t be further from the case for these Canes.

Adding insult to injury, O’Brien broke a bone in his wrist when hit by a pitch late Sunday and could miss this weekend’s road trip to Florida State. Wonderful.

After sliding from No. 6 to No. 12 and sitting at 25-11 overall and 12-6 in the ACC, it’s no longer time to even think Omaha. Hell, with back-to-back Wednesday losses it’s not even time to think about the second-ranked Seminoles.

Right now it’s all about Stetson and a one-at-a-time mentality until these Canes can find a way to stop the bleeding and to clean up whatever is keeping this team from going to that next level. – C.B.

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