Steve Corvi is a lucky man this evening. The third base umpire certainly did his part in almost stealing a win from the Miami Hurricanes, but in the end everyone saw why this is the top-ranked team in the land, now sporting a 49-8 record. Hurricane Nation can breathe a sigh of relief and Corvi didn’t have to watch his back leaving Mark Light Field.
The Canes got off to a lightning fast start, putting up five runs on seven hits in the first three innings. Miami left three batters stranded over that stretch, which almost cost them in the end – but clutch, fundamental baseball in the bottom of the eight inning and stifling pitching when it counted – proved to be the difference-maker.
Missouri used the top of the eight to turn a two-run deficit into a 5-5 tie after a Trevor Coleman double and a Steve Gray two-run shot.
Miami looked to start a bottom of the eight rally with Dennis Raben at the plate. Raben sent his shot into shallow left field, where the Tigers’ Aaron Senne dove, bobbled and for a moment, seemed to come up with the circus catch.
The TV replay clearly showed Raben’s shot bouncing out of Senne’s glove, onto his arm, to the ground and eventually to his glove. From his third-base post, Corvi called it an out – much to the dismay of an angry Miami crowd.
As expected, Senne sold it as if he caught it and remained aloof in the post-game when asked about the game-changing play. “As far as I remember, it hit my glove and bounced off my chest and arm and I looked up and it was in my glove,” Senne said.
A batter later, Dave DiNatale walked so instead of first and second with no outs, Miami had one on and an out when Adam Severino singled and sent DiNatle to third. Had Raben been on, the Canes would’ve immediately taken the lead. Instead, it’s 5-5 with one out, runners on the corners and a double play away from a scoreless inning.
Thankfully, none of that got into the head of freshman catcher Yasmani Grandal as he approached the plate and sent Kyle Gibson’s first offering between third and short, driving in DiNatale and giving the Canes a 6-5 lead that wouldn’t be surrendered.
Carlos Gutierrez sat down three straight Missouri batters in the top of the ninth to end the game. In fitting fashion, Senne provided the second out when he struck out for the second time on the day. Call it Karma or bad luck, but it seemed to make sense that the left fielder who faked and catch and stole a run from Miami would be unproductive in his final at bat.
Chris Hernandez started strong for the Canes, surrendering three hits in four innings pitched and striking out four. Things got rocky in the fifth when Hernandez gave up four straight hits and three runs, two off the bat of Senne. Kyle Bellamy attempted some relief in the bottom of the sixth, but only lasted an inning as he gave up three hits in six at bats, including Gray’s two-run bomb to tie the game. He eventually yielded to Gutierrez, who closed it out.
Miami is one game away from the Super Regional and action will kick off Sunday at 4pm EDT when the Canes will face a depleted and run down Missouri/Ole Miss winner. The game will be televised on ESPN U so tune in and root for The U!