Radziewski Tosses Gem, Baseball Stays Alive

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Bryan Radziewski delivered a brilliant performance on the mound, Zack Collins homered twice and drove in five runs, and the top-seeded Hurricanes stayed alive in the Coral Gables Regional with a 10-0 victory in an elimination game against fourth-seeded Bethune-Cookman.

Radziewski allowed just three hits in a complete game shutout, striking out nine batters while yielding two walks. The Miami, Fla., native, who has not suffered a loss on his personal record since April 20, threw 111 pitches on the afternoon – 71 of which went for strikes – to finish off the third complete game shutout of his career.

The complete game shutout was the second of this postseason for the Hurricanes, who received a similar performance from Andrew Suarez in their first game of the Regional – also against the Wildcats.

“Honestly, in the first inning,” Radziewski said when asked when he knew his day might be special. “I had command of all my pitches and I threw one ball on an 0-2 count. I was putting everything where I wanted, so I knew I had it after that first inning.

Head coach Jim Morris said Radziewski’s performance was pivotal to Miami’s chances for success in the postseason.

“For us, this win is exactly what the doctor ordered, what you need in this situation when you’re in the losers’ bracket,” Morris said. “You get a complete game to save your pitching for hopefully two more games.”

Miami (43-18), who fell to second-seeded Texas Tech Saturday night, received all the offense they needed from Collins – named 2014 ACC Rookie of the Year in late May. The Hurricanes – playing in the unfamiliar role of visitors at Alex Rodriguez Park due to Regional rules – received the second career multi-home run game from their young slugger, who finished 2-for-3.

“This was the game that was on the line, and we knew we had to score some runs and give B-Rad some support,” Collins said.

The Hurricanes will battle the Red Raiders Saturday night at 7 p.m. If they emerge victorious, they will take the field Monday night for the Regional Championship – also against the Red Raiders.

After struggling to generate any offense in Saturday night’s disappointing 3-0 defeat, the Hurricanes plated three runs in the game’s first two innings to jump out to early lead. Senior Tyler Palmer opened the game’s scoring in the first, with senior Tyler Palmer serving as the catalyst. Palmer singled through the leftside, took second on a wild pitch, and then scored on an error charged to Bethune-Cookman second baseman Matt Noble.

Miami added two more runs in the second – one on an RBI single from Garrett Kennedy and another on an RBI double from Dale Carey – to jump out to a 3-0 lead.

Collins’ two-run home run in the sixth – his first of the afternoon – moved Miami’s lead to 5-0. After combining to score just one run in the team’s first two games of the regional, Collins said it felt good to give the Hurricane pitching staff a boost.

“We haven’t given Andy [Suarez] or Chris [Diaz] any support these past two games and they both pitched well…we knew we had to score some runs and crank out some hits,” Collins said.

With his offense clicking, Radziewski set down 10 batters in a row in the middle innings. After struggling in the early part of the season, Radziewski is happy with the recent turnaround.

“I’ve been pitching well when we need to, and we have three great starters,” Radziewski said. “I was slacking a little bit, and I had to pick it up.”

A bases-loaded, two-RBI single from David Thompson padded Miami’s lead to 8-0 in the eighth, while Collins mammoth three-run blast in the ninth – which moved him into a tie for first place in the ACC with 11 on the season – saw the Hurricanes crack double-digit runs.

“We played very solid, good defense. We left some guys on base earlier in the game, but of course Zack had a couple home runs to knock in five runs there late,” Morris said.

The Hurricanes will battle the Red Raiders tonight at 7 p.m. in a game slated for broadcast on ESPN3.