Miami 18, Central Michigan 3: ‘Canes Advance to Starkville Regional Final

A hurricane rolled into Starkville, Mississippi as Miami dominated the Central Michigan Chippewas in an 18-3 win that propelled the Hurricanes into the regional final vs Mississippi State tonight. The ‘Canes have to get two more wins to advance to the next weekend of the NCAA Tournament.

Miami’s offense exploded to launch six home runs over the fences of Dudy Noble Field on Sunday afternoon. More importantly, the ‘Canes scored early and often to allow the starting lineup and bullpen to rest for the second consecutive game. Starter Brian Van Belle did a fantastic job on the mound for the Hurricanes, throwing eight innings and limiting the bullpen use to just one inning from Alex Ruiz.

Alex Toral made the biggest impact on the game for the Hurricanes, launching two home runs to right field and driving in four runs on his own. Gabe Rivera also continued his great stretch of play with a two-run home run in the top of the third that started the scoring for Miami. Anthony Vilar, Ray Gil, and Adrian Del Castillo all knocked home runs of their own to put the Hurricanes in total control for the entire game. Del Castillo in particular has been fantastic in his first postseason, hitting three home runs in three games. After today’s performance he finds his name all over the Miami record books:

Every single Miami starter had an RBI except for Michael Amditis and JP Gates, both of which exited the game early in favor of replacements to get rest for tonight’s showdown against Mississippi State. Amditis could be particularity important tonight, as Miami will rely on him to shutdown MSU’s running game in what should be a much closer match up.

Now the Hurricanes will search for a way to win two consecutive games over the No.6 national seed Bulldogs. The most difficult of those two games could be tonight, where the Hurricanes will be playing their second game of the day. Fortunately for Miami, the offense seems to be firing on all cylinders heading into their biggest game of the season. The ‘Canes have a lot of momentum heading into tonight, and now it’s time to capitalize.

Game Info

Winning Pitcher: Brian Van Belle (10-2, 8.0 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 8 K)

Losing Pitcher: Jordan Patty (4-3, 3.2 IP, 8 H, 8 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 3 K)

Save: None

(Box score posted when available)

Next Game

Date & Time: Sunday, June 2, 9:00 P.M. Eastern

Hurricanes Starter: Slade Cecconi (5-3, 4.41 ERA)

Mississippi State Starter: Peyton Plumlee (5-4, 3.89 ERA)

Radio: 790 The Ticket

Television: TBD