Hurricanes Baseball Gets Shutout, Loses 3-0 to Texas Tech

The Hurricanes lost to the Texas Tech Red Raiders 3-0 Saturday night in a winner's bracket game at the Coral Gables Regional.  It was the first time this season that Miami was shutout.  The Red Raiders won the game with terrific pitching and timely hitting.

Unfortunately for the Canes, Miami got terrific starting pitching as well, but the bats could not keep up.  For the second game in a row Miami failed to get an RBI.  They have now scored one run in two Regional games.

Chris Diaz took the mound for the Hurricanes (42-18) and was brilliant before yielding to two relievers. Unfortunately Diaz (9-1), the co-ACC pitcher of the year, was tagged with the loss.

After a complete game shutout from junior Andrew Suarez on Friday against Bethune Cookman, Diaz sought to do the same against one of the powerhouse offensive teams in baseball, the Texas Tech Red Raiders (42-18.)

Two bunts and a wild pitch in the second inning moved a couple of Red Raiders into scoring position. An RBI single from Tim Proudfoot and another wild pitch from Diaz brought them home and put the Hurricanes in a 2-0 hole early in the game.

Miami came back to life—so it seemed—in the fourth inning by loading the bases. However, they failed to capitalize as Dale Carey hit a weak pop up to left field to end the inning. Carey would see his average dip from .312 to .307 after his 0-for-4 performance that left stranded seven runners on the base paths.

Texas Tech freshman phenom Dylan Dusek (7-0) pitched eight scoreless innings against the Canes and earned the win.  Dusek now leads the Big 12 in scoreless games with six. Corey Taylor pitched the ninth inning and earned his second save.

"I felt great tonight. Everything went my way," said Dusek. "My main goal was to get behind hitters, and I did that tonight."

Proudfoot described Dusek’s performance with one word—"Unreal."

After Diaz’s unorthodox second inning, the All-American lefty was borderline flawless giving up no runs through the seventh and retiring 10 straight batters in the process. He left the game to a standing ovation from the fans, but he felt as though he could have done better.

"Obviously it wasn’t good enough to win," said Diaz on his overall performance. "I tried my best, but we fell short."

Once Diaz left, Cooper Hammond (5-1, 2.51 ERA) came into the game in an unfavorable position with runners on second and third. He gave up one run and struck out the final batter he faced.

Miami had one more opportunity in the ninth to save itself from playing a double header on Sunday.  With a lucky bounce over third baseman Ryan Long, Brad Fieger reached base with a lead off single. Alex Hernandez would follow him with a single to center field.

Carey now found himself in the same position where he was in the fourth inning: Runners in scoring position and two outs. Unfortunately, the same result occurred as he popped out to end the game.

"I had a lot of opportunities and I couldn’t get the job done," said Carey. "We grew a little impatient…we’re just trying to do too much."

UM coach Jim Morris grew tired of the lack of hitting.

"We’re just struggling to get men on base," Morris said. "One run in two games won’t win you anything."

Miami plays Sunday at 2 pm against Bethune Cookman University. If the Canes win, they will continue in the tournament and play Texas Tech at 7 pm. If Texas Tech wins, they are the Regional Champions. If Miami wins two games tomorrow, they would play Texas Tech Monday night at 7 pm for the title.