Miami’s Bats Explode in Sweep-Clinching Victory
By David Villavicencio
HurricaneSports.com
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – An offensive explosion helped the Miami Hurricanes complete a sweep of ACC Coastal foe Pittsburgh, 14-2.
The Canes (11-4, 3-0 ACC) exploded for 14 runs to wrap up a sweep of the Panthers (10-5, 0-3 ACC) on the opening weekend of conference play. Sunday marked the first time Miami had 18 hits since they posted the same amount on June 2, 2019 in a victory over Central Michigan at the 2019 Starkville Regional.
“It was nice to get the bats going a little bit there, especially late,” Miami head coach Gino DiMare said. “Very, very positive weekend. I told the guys I was very proud of them for how they answered back after being down a little bit.”
Trailing by two runs entering the bottom of the third inning, the Hurricanes answered with a three-run inning against Pitt starter Matt Gilbertson and never looked back.
Miami got on the board when Jordan Lala singled home Tony Jenkins with an RBI single up the middle and took the lead when Anthony Vilar hit an RBI double to left that pushed home Lala. The Hurricanes’ shortstop advanced to third on the throw home trying to retire Lala and scored after Pitt catcher Nick Vera threw the ball away trying to throw out Vilar at third, giving Miami a 3-2 lead.
“We hit on Friday and Saturday so just rolling into Sunday, we felt good at the plate,” Vilar said. “It’s just good to get things going. We started a little slow, getting down 2-0, bounced back and had a good game.”
An inning later, the Canes loaded the bases with two outs and Lala walked to push home Luis Tuero and double their lead to two runs after four innings.
“Our head coach says that he wants our at-bats to be taxing,” Tuero said. “Our focus this weekend was to make the pitchers work, throw extra pitchers and win the counts we needed to win.”
Pitt threatened in the top of the sixth, putting runners on first and second with two outs and Miami leading 4-2. But Cecconi froze Sky Duff to end the threat and let out an emphatic yell in celebration as he walked off the mound for the final time in the game.
Vilar picked up his second double of the game to lead off the bottom of the seventh, lacing a two-base hit to left against Pitt lefty Grant Powell. After Vilar advanced to third on an ground out, Pitt head coach Mike Bell called for right-hander Chase Smith and intentionally walked Alex Toral to set up a double play situation with Raymond Gil at the plate.
Smith bobbled a slow roller off of Gil’s bat near the first base line and Miami’s third baseman reached on the error while driving home Vilar. Two batters later, Tuero lined a two-run single to left that extended Miami’s lead to five runs.
“This year it has been an emphasis of finishing whatever we do,” DiMare said. “We talked about finishing the series and I felt the hit by Tuero was the nail in the coffin, that was the knock out blow, and then it just opened up after that.”
The Hurricanes’ bats stayed hot in the eighth, as Rivera led off the inning with a double and Lala and Vilar followed with RBI doubles to put Miami ahead, 9-2. Vilar’s double set a new single-game high with three.
“Any conference win is huge, so definitely getting a sweep is big to start off conference play,” Vilar said. “We are just going now into every game focused.”
Adrian Del Castillo continued the rally with an RBI triple and Alex Toral followed with an RBI single, but ended up on third due to a two-base error by Anderson in center field. Toral scored on a wild pitch by reliever Brady Deveraux to put the Canes ahead by 10 runs.
Miami added its final two runs of the game on a bases-loaded, two-run single that was Josh Lauck’s first hit as a Hurricane. Lauck was joined by freshman outfield Mykanthony Valdez as Canes who recorded their first career hit on Sunday.
“Coach [Norberto Lopez] is really working with the guys,” DiMare said. “I felt that we did a good job of using the whole field. …I just think we’re doing a better job of stretching out at-bats, using the whole field, hitting the ball the other way, so those are good signs.”
The 14 unanswered runs by Miami’s offense were impressive, but the Canes also had success on the mound inside Alex Rodriguez Park on Sunday.
Cecconi held the Panthers to two runs on six hits over six innings while striking out seven to improve to 2-1 on the year. Carson Palmquist followed with two scoreless innings and Spencer Bodanza wrapped up the win with a scoreless ninth inning.
The Canes hit the road next week, traveling to UCF for a midweek matchup on Wednesday at 6 p.m. After facing the Knights, Miami will continue on its road swing for a weekend series at Virginia Tech beginning Friday at 4 p.m.
