Canes Drop Game Three vs. Seminoles
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The Miami Hurricanes dropped the series finale to the rival Seminoles, 12-0, on Sunday afternoon.
No. 5 Miami (9-7, 5-6 ACC) never got it going offensively against FSU starter Conor Grady, while a seven-run fourth inning helped the Noles take a commanding lead inside Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field.
“Very, very disappointing. Not even sure what to say. It’s the most embarrassing performance I can recall in my days as a Cane,” head coach Gino DiMare said. “We just didn’t do anything right. It seemed like they did everything right. Just a very poor performance, very disappointing. Having said that, we better figure out a way to get it going, because we’ve got a long season ahead of us. And we had been playing well up into this point. But we certainly didn’t do that this weekend.”
The Seminoles (10-6, 7-5 ACC) scored in the top of the first for the third straight game against Miami, as Robby Martin singled home Logan Lacey to put FSU ahead, 1-0.
Two innings later, Lacey drove himself in with a one-out solo homer to left-center that doubled the Seminoles’ lead. Martin followed with a solo shot of his own, giving FSU a three-run advantage.
Florida State got a pair of runners on in the fourth and took advantage of some Miami miscues, as Nander De Sedas and Ryan Romano advanced on a wild pitch by starter Daniel Federman, with De Sedas scoring on an errant throw to third by catcher Adrian Del Castillo.
The Noles loaded the bases with one out against Federman in the fourth before Miami called for right-hander Jake Smith. Lacey and Martin delivered again, with Lacey hitting and RBI single and Martin following with a two-run single. Catcher Matheu Nelson capped the seven-run inning with a three-run homer that put Florida State ahead by 10.
“It was just a horrible weekend all around,” infielder Anthony Vilar said. “Friday, they got ahead early, they hit, they swung the bat well. Saturday, we made a lot of errors early in the game, which caused them to capitalize on Saturday and get ahead. Today they just swing the bat again, we weren’t making the right pitches late in the count, and they got ahead early and we just, again, couldn’t come back.”
De Sedas led off the fifth inning with a solo homer off Smith. Two innings later, Tyler Martin had an RBI single that bumped the Seminoles lead to 12.
“We’ve just got to flush it,” Del Castillo said. “Baseball is going to bite you in the butt sometimes and humbles you very quick, so we’ve just got to look forward to the next game and play hard.”
Miami is back in action Tuesday, opening a five-game road swing with a midweek tilt at FAU. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m.
