The Miami Hurricanes woke from a slumber and gave the Florida State Seminoles the type of Sunday beating that fans live for in this rivalry; a convincing, 10-0 shellacking that reminded everyone just what this team can do when it’s firing on all cylinders.
Unfortunately, Miami’s familiar alter ego surfaced on Saturday—a team hungover and beaten down from Friday night’s heartbreaking extra innings loss.
The Noles prevailed in the 17th inning, taking game one, 8-7 and less than a day later, rode that momentum to a spirited, 15-5 dominating win over the Canes—going back-to-back in a weekend series set to honor the late, great Ron Fraser by way of a Friday night statue unveiling.
This weekend marks the second consecutive conference series where Miami dropped the first two, but got one late to avoid the sweep. It also came on the heels of what was a nine-game win-streak going into last weekend’s match-up at Virginia, with the Canes now dropping four of their last six against big-boy competition.
It was also Miami’s first home series loss since March 2014, having won nine series in a row.
It’s hardly the end of the world and Miami has a shot to get a few back with Pittsburgh, Bethune-Cookman, NYIT, Florida Atlantic on deck. After this coming weekend’s trek to Pennsylvania, the Canes close out the regular season with an eight-game home stand.
Still, at this point of the season it’s those one-run losses to the Cavaliers or Seminoles that define the contenders from the pretenders as the post-season approaches.
Miami has dreams of Omaha; the place Coach Fraser seems to bring the program annually and something that’s since been taken for granted as overall competition has improved and the game itself has become more of a challenge.
The Hurricanes are a shoo-in for an NCAA Tournament berth; something it’s accomplished 42 seasons in a row, and counting. That said, the Hurricanes haven’t been to the College World Series since 2008, where as a one-seed Miami was upset by Georgia in the opener and like so many other greats, couldn’t fight its way out of the loser’s bracket.
The Canes won the ACC regular season title last season, going 27-3 down the stretch after a 13-12 start. Miami rose to No. 4 in the rankings, but much like it’s last appearance in Omaha, got off to a rough start in Greensboro for the conference tourney, losing to Georgia Tech and Clemson back-to-back, before a pretty much meaningless extra innings victory over Duke.
Miami then hosted a Regional, eked out a 1-0 win over Bethune-Cookman and fell, 3-0 to Texas Tech in game two. A rematch against the Wildcats ended, 10-0 in the Canes’ favor but the Red Raiders earned a 2-1 extra innings victory on Sunday. Miami would’ve needed to top Texas Tech twice for a shot at a Super Regional, but was blanked, 4-0 and saw its season come to a close.
The 23rd-ranked Red Raiders parlayed the upset into a trip to Omaha—taking out a College of Charleston team Miami would’ve hosted in the Supers, before back-to-back College World Series losses to TCU and Ole Miss.
The purpose of that frustrating trip down memory lane; two reminders—good teams get hot late and regular season accolades mean nothing if one can’t deliver in the clutch.
In regards to Miami’s opening game loss to Florida State, the Canes were certainly clutch and ultimately ran out of time and magic.
Down 4-0 entering the bottom of the sixth, the Canes came alive and picked up a run by way of a sacrifice fly from Willie Abreu. In the seventh, a three-run outpouring, picking apart the Noles’ bullpen.
Carl Chester laid down a double, while a sacrifice bunt from Ricky Eusebio was mishandled, with an overthrow to third base bringing Chester home.
George Iskenderian drew a walk and with runners aboard, Zack Collins delved a one-out single to right, scoring Eusebio and bringing the Canes to within one. From there, a David Thompson sacrifice fly brought Iskenderian home and tied the game, 4-4.
Both sides traded runs in the 11th, 13th and 14th and with the game 7-7 entering the 17th, the Noles got another and the Canes couldn’t answer.
Thomas Woodrey lasted 6.2 innings for Miami, surrendering nine hits and four runs, striking out one. Meanwhile, Boomer Biegalski mowed down five batters in 5.1 scoreless innings for the visitors, keeping UM off-balance early.
Both teams left a combine 29 runners on base; 15 for the Noles and 14 for the Canes, while Florida State picked up 16 hits to Miami’s 11. As for the game itself, it tied a Miami record for the longest in program history at 17 innings and took six hours to complete.
Based on the game one almost-comeback, the Canes’ slow start on Saturday night was expected—but it doesn’t excuse a pitching breakdown from Andrew Suarez that saw Florida State tattoo him for 11 hits over 3.1 innings, while he was charged with 12 runs—a career-high 10 earned—in the eventual, 15-5 loss.
The Canes led 2-0 early, but the Noles stormed back with five in the third, seven in the fourth and three in the fifth, up 15-2 before Miami tacked on two meaningless runs in the bottom of the ninth.
A bases loaded double by Dylan Busby got it going for Florida State in the third—with Chester almost pulling in the spectacular grab as the ball grazed his glove. In the fourth, the Noles saw 11 batters take their cuts, with seven recording hits.
To Miami’s credit, it found a way to shake of Saturday’s thumping, returning the favor with an even more impressive beat down; a 12-0 shutout that hopefully the team can build on moving forward.
The Canes attacked early, much like the Noles the night before—three runs in the first, one in the second, four in the third, two in the fourth and another in the fifth. Miami even tacked one one more in the seventh for good measure, while Florida State was held scoreless despite seven hits.
Enrique Sosa lasted six innings for the Canes, striking out five and only allowing six hits. Cooper Hammond and Danny Garcia closed things out, going three total innings, striking out four and only allowing one hit.
Miami responded offensively with 18 hits, including four home runs from four different players. Thompson got things tarted with a three-run shot in the first, followed by a solo shot from Garrett Kennedy in the second.
Hurricanes hitters chased started Drew Carlton off early in the second, but it made no difference as Abreu fired his shot over the right field wall, extending the lead to, 8-0. Soon after, Collins blasted a two-run shot and the Canes led, 10-0 after four, while Iskenderian was 4-for-4 at the plate, with three runs and two RBI.
Collectively, Miami topped Florida State, 24-23 over the three-game stretch, but saved all its muscle for Sunday, when it needed a lot more on Saturday and a quicker start on Friday.
A frustrating beginning and middle to what had the makings of an epic weekend in Coral Gables—complete with The Wizard Of College Baseball earning his permanent place at his entrance to The Light.
Still, to the Canes’ credit they closed strong, shook off an ugly game two loss and showed what they’re made of when push comes to shove.
Time to close strong, make a run in Greensboro, get a Regional, hope to play into a Super and to lean on perfect days like Sunday while keeping Omaha dreams alive and intact.