The foe may have only been Milwaukee, but the result was three more wins and Miami has climbed to 7-0 and has cracked the top 25. St. Thomas heads to The Light on Tuesday and Barry visits on Wednesday before the Hurricanes trek to Gainesville for a three-game stand with the Florida Gators, a program that’s owned UM as of late.
Miami beat up on Milwaukee pretty good on Friday and Saturday, winning both contest by a 6-1 score. The Canes had one error in each game, which is a key stat early in the season as fielding was arguably the biggest disaster for the 2012 season.
Sunday’s showdown proved a little too close for comfort. A 1-1 game going into the top of the fifth, Milwaukee picked up two and led 4-1 after a one-run sixth, but Miami came alive in the bottom of the inning.
Alex Hernandez opened the sixth with a single and Chantz Mack earned his base when hit by a pitch. Brad Feiger doubled, driving in Hernandez and Michael Broad drove in Mack and Feiger with a chopper through the left side of the infield.
After a Milwaukee pitching change, Dale Carey broke out of his recent slump with a two-run shot over the left field wall, giving Miami it’s first lead of the game, 6-4.
Miami picked up another in the bottom of the seventh, going ahead, 7-4 and Milwaukee put together a little top-of-the-ninth rally, but could get no closer than one run, picking up two and the game ending, 7-6 in the twentieth-ranked Canes’ favor.
UM has a legit shot to be 9-0 entering this weekend’s showdown in Gainesville and good news as Florida seems to be slumping right now, coming off on the wrong end of a sweep against Florida Gulf Coast. The Azul took down the Gators 8-2, 8-3 and 7-4 (11) on the heels of a mid-week UF loss to Georgia Southern, 8-7 (12).
Florida enters Tuesday’s contest with North Florida with a 3-5 record, riding a four-game losing streak. Conversely, Miami is riding high on the back of true freshman David Thompson, who has a slugging percentage of .750, an on-base percentage of .435 and is averaging two RBI per game.
Thompson has a .348 batting average, 13 RBI and one home run in seven games.