Canes fall 4-2 in rain-delayed Series Opener vs. Noles

In what was supposed to be a 7:30 start to this historic rivalry turned into a 8:20 first pitch in Coral Gables. Both starting pitchers seemed to be the only two that were awake after the 45 minute rain delay. They took full advantage of that all the way till the first run was scored in the bottom of the fifth inning by the Canes. Cane's starting pitcher Chris Diaz finished throwing 128 pitches through 7 1/3 innings and went through a stretch where he retired 8 straight batters. He also recorded 7 strikeouts which was the most in one game during his first two years playing for the Hurricanes. Miami struggled early on stranding runners on 1st & 2nd with two outs in each of the first two innings of the ball game. In the bottom of the third inning Chantz Mack hit a ball down the left field line which the umpire called foul. The only problem is that the chalk at the very end of each foul line in the outfields was missing. Coach Morris came out to argue the call and at the end of the inning some of the Cane's ground crew fixed the problem, it just might have been one out to late.

Finally the bottom of the fifth came and so did the runs for Miami after back to back singles by Alex San Juan and Michael Broad to make it 2-0 UM. Chris Diaz came back in the 8th inning after throwing 115 pitches already and managed to get his first batter John Sansone to ground out to third. Only problem was Fieger throw the ball away and Sansone ended up on second base. Following was Seth Miller hitting a ball hard back up the middle to score Sansone from second and make it 2-1. Then Miami let the lead slip away when FSU lead off hitter Brett Kinef hit a single to right field and Chantz Mack let it go under his glove and past him. Another run scored to tie it up and that was the night for Chris Diaz. Closer Eric Nedeljkovic came in relief for Diaz and finished off the 8th inning allowing no hits and struck out one.

After San Juan drew a walk in the bottom of the 8th that was all the Canes could salvage and we were headed to the ninth inning with the starter out for Miami and the closer already being used. This is a stage in the game Miami was very familiar with but has not had much success with. After pinch hitter Casey Smit reached on a single Eric struck out the next batter. On that pitch Smit stole second setting the stage for Giovanny Alfonzo who doubled scoring Smit and giving the Noles the lead for good. Sansone followed with a single to pad the lead to 4-2 for Florida State. Salcines finished the last two batters in the top of the ninth for the Canes. Miami falls to 20-13 on the season and 5-8 in ACC