McKendry Named ACC Pitcher of the Week
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – University of Miami right-hander Evan McKendry was named the ACC Pitcher of the Week, as announced by the conference office Monday.
McKendry kept Florida State’s bats in check in last Friday night’s series opener, allowing just three hits and striking out nine over seven scoreless innings to earn his fifth win of the year.
“It was awesome,” McKendry said Friday. “Gino [DiMare] has been preaching that we are just waiting for the game that everything clicks for us and today that was it. We pitched well, we hit well, played good defense, no errors, that’s exactly what we need to do.”
The junior right-hander struck out the side in the fifth, running his tally to six strikeouts over five frames, and Miami’s bats rewarded him with four runs in the bottom of the inning thanks to a grand slam by Alex Toral to go ahead for good. The opening night win set up a series win for the Hurricanes, who took two of three from Seminoles.
“I feel like we kind of got the momentum going in that inning,” Toral said. “It started with Evan. I’m pretty sure he struck out the side the inning before that and as a player, I felt like we need to score right here. Evan just had a shutdown inning, it doesn’t get better than three strikeouts in an inning and coming up with the bases loaded, obviously, my emotions were high and I’m glad I came through for my team.”
McKendry is tied for second in the ACC with 61 strikeouts and has struck out eight-or-more batters in each of his last three starts.
The Pembroke Pines, Fla., native is the second Hurricane to win an ACC weekly award in 2019, joining shortstop Freddy Zamora.
ACC baseball weekly honors are determined by a vote of a media panel and are announced each Monday throughout the regular season.
Miami will wrap up a five-game homestand on Tuesday with a game against Florida Gulf Coast. The Hurricanes and Eagles will face off in Coral Gables at 6 p.m., before meeting again on Wednesday in Fort Myers, Fla., beginning at 6:30 p.m.
