Cane bats finally wake up vs. Stetson

After losing the last two mid-week games vs. Florida Atlantic and Bethune Cookman respectively the Canes finally came out on top Wednesday night 8-2 vs. Stetson. Miami's starting pitcher Javi Salas recorded his first career complete game allowing one earned run and striking out 4. However, things didn't look so good in the first inning. The Hatters led the game off with three straight singles vs. Salas. Salas allowed a run in the inning but was able to draw two straight ground balls, one leading to a double play to get him out of the inning.

The Cane bats came to life in the bottom of the third inning when Junior Dale Carey led with a bunt single. Hurricanes got on the board with an Alex Hernandez double and later took the lead when Chantz Mack drove a ball back up the middle to score two more. Miami pitcher Javi Salas would not give the lead back to the Hatters after the 3-1 advantage. He at one point retired 11 consecutive batters. After the game I asked him what was different today. "I had a lot of kinks to work out in my mechanics. Today it all kind of came together, I was able to throw my best pitch really. It's a sinking fastball, they were hitting it into the ground". Miami turned two double plays tonight and the Hatters committed three errors. UM has not been able to land key hits with runners on and has been shaky committing a handful of errors as of late. It was nice to see the Canes flip the script on Stetson tonight. Hernandez was asked how to take this success with them this weekend vs. Maryland. "We gotta keep playing hard, keep swinging it and the pitchers are going to continue to do well".

The runs continued to add up in the bottom of the fourth when Stetson pitchers just couldn't throw strikes. Dale Carey hit a ball into right field deep enough to score Michael Broad who tagged at third. After back to back walks Christopher Barr wasted little time to line another ball to the outfield and make it 5-1 Miami. The Canes went on to score three more runs and defeated Stetson 8-2. It was good to see Freshman David Thompson line a ball to left with the bases loaded in the top of the eighth inning after struggling as of late.