No.21 Miami 8, No.1 Florida 6: Early Offense, Late Heroics Lead Miami to Series Win

The Miami Hurricanes won 8-6 on Sunday afternoon to take their first series win against the Florida Gators since 2014. Miami used early offense to get out to an 8-0 lead early on and then held on for the last several innings to take the series from the top-ranked team in the country. It’s an absolutely huge series win for a team that started two freshman in their weekend rotation.

Miami got out to a quick start with a three-run first inning. Jordan Lala reached base on a hit-by-pitch before stealing second. Yohandy Morales moved him to third with an infield single, and then both of them were driven in by a two-RBI double from Adrian Del Castillo. The Hurricanes scored their third run of the inning on an Alex Toral RBI-single that scored Del Castillo.

The Hurricanes added a run in the second and third innings. In the second Tony Jenkins walked and then stole second before being driven in by Anthony Vilar. In the third Ray Gil stepped up to the plate and launched a home run to left-center field to make the score 5-0.

Miami then added another three runs with a rally in the fourth. Jordan Lala started the inning with a walk, he had an incredible day as the leadoff man, going one for three with two walks and a hit-by-pitch. Yohandy Morales then scored Lala with an RBI-triple, the hit was one of three for the freshman on the day. Adrian Del Castillo was hit by a pitch and Ray Gil walked to load the bases for Christian Del Castillo, who hit a two-RBI single that made the score 8-0 for Miami.

Meanwhile, on the mound, freshman Victor Mederos was excellent for the Hurricanes. Over 4.2 innings the freshman struck out five and routinely had the Gators off-balance with his off-speed pitches. Unfortunately in the fourth and fifth innings, Florida finally got to him. The Gators had three-straight singles in both innings with each stretch of hits resulting in a run.

In the sixth and seventh the Gators tried to mount a comeback. The sixth saw a single, walk, and single score a run for the Gators, before a balk scored another run. In the seventh, an error allowed Josh Rivera to reach before an RBI-double and RBI-single scored two runs in the inning. Notably though, Florida left three men on and two men on to end each inning, and the Hurricanes bullpen did just enough to sustain the lead.

The eighth and ninth inning saw Miami trying to hold on to the lead and the series win. Ben Wanger worked a scoreless eighth inning where he worked around two singles to maintain the lead. Freshman CJ Kayfus made an incredible play on a line-drive to tag out Josh Rivera at first for a double-play that ended the inning.

In the ninth inning, Carson Palmquist came into the game for his first save attempt as Miami’s closer. He was dominant, forcing two flyouts to left before Tony Jenkins made an incredible catch to secure the win and the series for the Hurricanes.

The series win is a remarkable achievement for a Miami team that started two true freshman in their rotation. Florida was the consensus No.1 team in the country heading into the series and had won six games in a row against Miami after their win Friday night. The series win is also Miami’s first on the road against Florida since 2009.

Miami now moves into conference play next weekend when they take on the Virginia Tech Hokies at Mark Light Field. The Hokies swept a two-game series against Kent State this weekend to move to 2-0 for the season. Game one of the series is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m.

Game Info

Winning Pitcher: Anthony Arguelles (1-0, 1.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 0 K)

Losing Pitcher: Hunter Barco (0-1, 3.1 IP, 7 H, 8 R, 7 ER, 3 BB, 3 K)

Save: Carson Palmquist (1)

(Box Score posted when available)

Next Game

Vs Virginia Tech Game 1

Date & Time: Friday, February 26, 7:00 p.m.

Hurricanes Starter: Daniel Federman (0-1, 8.78 ERA)

Virginia Tech Starter: Chris Gerard (1-0, 1.50 ERA)

Radio: WVUM 90.5 FM

Television: ACC Network Extra (ESPN3)