The Hurricanes lost the back end of their home-and-home series vs the FIU Golden Panthers 3-2 on Sunday.

The bullpen had a bad day today, and that ultimately led to the Hurricanes’ defeat.

Evan McKendry made his first career start for the Hurricanes tonight, and he pitched well. He lasted for five innings and allowed no runs and just three hits and a walk.

Things started out extremely well for the Hurricanes, as they loaded the bases with no outs. Romy Gonzalez then gave Miami their first meaningful run in what seemed like an eternity, and the Hurricanes were up 1-0 early and had an opportunity to add on a few more. Unfortunately nothing else came of the inning, and the Hurricanes only scored one run.

In the bottom of the second McKendry worked his way out of a jam. After allowing two men on with no outs, a perfect sac-bunt gave the Panthers two men in scoring position with only one out. However two key strikeouts prevented any damage.

In the bottom of the fourth McKendry did almost the exact same thing in a very similar situation. FIU put two men on in scoring position, but McKendry got out of it with two strikeouts.

In the top of the sixth Carl Chester started the inning with a leadoff walk, and a sac-bunt from Romy Gonzalez moved him over to second. Barry Buchowski then drove him in to make the game 2-0 in favor of UM. After a fielding error the Hurricanes had runners on the corners, but Edgar Michelangeli struck out, and the inning was over.

FIU then got on the board in the bottom of the sixth. A leadoff walk put a man on first, and yet another sac-bunt put the runner in scoring position. The runner then moved to third, and a passed ball by Joe Gomez allowed FIU to score their first run on the night, making the game 2-1 in favor of Miami heading into the top of the seventh.

A one out double in the bottom of the seventh gave FIU a great opportunity to tie the game, and they did just that, as an RBI single tied the game at 2-2.

In the bottom of the ninth a leadoff walk gave FIU a man on first, and he was moved to second on a sac-bunt. After that Miami intentionally walked FIU’s next batter in order to set up the double play ball. Then FIU won the game on a sac-fly where the runner tagged and came home from second, you read that right, SECOND TO HOME...

ON A SAC-FLY!

Bad defense struck again for the Hurricanes, and another reason for the loss can be attributed to only scoring one run when the bases were loaded with no outs.

Hopefully this gets better, but heading into a series vs Georgia Tech this weekend the Hurricanes are running out of time to fix their problems.

Game Stats:

Winning Pitcher: Chandler Raiden (1-0, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 1.0 IP)

Losing Pitcher: Frankie Bartow (1-1, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, 0.1 IP)

Save: None

Next Game:

Friday, March 10, 7:00 P.M Eastern, home vs Georgia Tech.

Hurricanes Starter: Jesse Lepore (1-2)

Radio: WVUM 90.5

Television: ACC Network Extra