The Hurricanes salvaged a win from their series with the Florida Gators on Sunday. Miami desperately needed the win to try to gain momentum for the season ahead.

Evan McKendry put together a fantastic appearance for the Hurricanes, working six innings, allowing only two hits and two walks. McKendry was followed by star closer Andrew Cabezas, who managed to last three innings, and despite working himself into a few jams, didn’t allow any runs to save the game for the Hurricanes.

Sophomore Gator Tyler Dyson also worked well throughout the game, but he couldn’t quite match Cabezas in his six innings of work. He allowed one run on a pair of two-out doubles in the bottom of the fifth. Freshman Willy Escala knocked a double up the left field line, and he was followed by Michael Burns, who hit a double to the corner that would prove to be the difference in the game.

The Hurricanes managed to add another off Andrew Baker in the bottom of the seventh. Freddy Zamora managed to reach on a single, and he was followed by Willy Escala, who walked to push Zamora to second. Zamora would then score off another big hit from Burns, who would end up being responsible for both Miami runs on the day.

This is a fantastic win for a team that desperately needed one. However, it doesn’t mean that all of the problems that the Hurricanes have been plagued with so far are gone. Miami had yet another error today, and while that may have been the only one that showed up on the scorecard, there were several other mistakes today. Fortunately this time the pitching staff bailed out the young defense, but things must improve for Miami to have more success this season.

Miami’s team still has problems, but wins like this are what turns around some bad momentum. Miami now heads into a week that is full of four games that the Hurricanes can and should win. They must bring the same energy that they had today to all those games, and if this time next week the Hurricanes are 7-4 it’ll be a great turnaround from the troubling start of the season.

The Hurricanes were more active today, and that helped them gain a huge win. If they can bring that approach to every single game, they should be much improved. This can’t be an attitude that’s only brought when a big-time team comes to town, the mark of a great team is if they can stay consistent. Only time will tell, this was a big step forward, but it isn’t the only step that must be taken.

Game Info

Winning Pitcher: Evan McKendry (1-1, 6.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 8 K)

Losing Pitcher: Tyler Dyson (1-1, 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 8 K)

Save: Andrew Cabezas (2)

Box Score:

Next Game

Mid-week Game @FAU

Date & Time: Wednesday, February 28, 6:30 PM

Hurricanes Starter: Michael Mediavilla (0-1, 3.00 ERA)

FAU Starter: Nick Prather (0-1, 8.10 ERA)

Television: None

Radio: 790 The Ticket