No. 22 Miami Downs Dartmouth, 9-7
CORAL GABLES, Fla. — It was only a matter of time.
The 22nd-ranked Hurricanes have had a knack for the long ball over their first five games.
After being held scoreless through three innings, Miami broke out.
The Hurricanes hammered a pair of three-run homers and held on to defeat Dartmouth, 9-7, Friday evening at Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field.
“It’s good to win the first game of the series, no doubt,” Miami head coach Gino DiMare. “There was no quit in them…It got a little crazy there at the end. At the end of the day, we won. We scored enough runs to get it done.”
With Miami (5-1) trailing the Big Green (0-1) by four, two swings flipped the script.
Junior catcher Carlos Perez drove in runs three with his second dinger of the season, cutting the deficit to 4-3.
Then one inning later, CJ Kayfus came up clutch.
Four days after delivering a walk-off home run against Penn State, Kayfus clobbered a go-ahead three-run jack that sailed over the right field fence into the Ponce Parking Garage.
Kayfus’ second round-tripper of the year put the Hurricanes ahead, 6-4, a lead they wouldn’t relinquish the rest of the way.
Junior outfielder Zach Levenson and freshman infielder Blake Cyr tacked on insurance runs in the seventh, with back-to-back bases-loaded singles to extend the cushion to 9-4.
The Big Green rallied for three runs in the ninth, bringing the tying tally to the dish, but Miami closer Andrew Walters shut the door, punching out the final two Dartmouth batters.
Miami right-handed pitcher Gage Ziehl (1-1) picked up the win, after totaling a career-high nine strikeouts over a career-long five innings. Ziehl, who was making his second career start, retired the final 10 batters he faced.
After Dartmouth scored four runs on as many hits in the second, the Big Green were held to just one knock until the ninth.
Right-handers Alejandro Torres and Ronaldo Gallo and lefty Alex Walsh combined for three frames of one-hit baseball before Sebastian Perez and Walters put on the finishing touches.
Following their fifth straight win, the Hurricanes look to secure the series over Dartmouth Saturday. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m.
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