Hurricanes Hammer Hokies in Series Opener
BLACKSBURG, Va. — The Cardiac Canes brought the Mark Light Magic on the road.
The Hurricanes hammered five home runs, including two solo shots in the ninth to upend the Virginia Tech Hokies, 8-6, Friday evening at English Field at Atlantic Union Bank Park.
Senior Jacoby Long delivered the knockout punch for Miami (22-26, 9-16 ACC) with a 432-foot bomb to left-center field, sending the first base dugout into a frenzy.
“It’s my favorite swing of my baseball career,” Long said. “All I was trying to do was get on base. I wanted to put a good swing on a ball. It was a huge moment for me and the team.”
Two batters later, freshman phenom Daniel Cuvet crushed his second homer of the night to provide the visitors with insurance.
Fifth-year redshirt sophomore left-hander Myles Caba (1-1) locked down the series-opening victory over the Hokies (31-16, 13-12 ACC) with a 1-2-3 ninth.
Caba struck out a career-high six batters across a career-long four innings in relief of ace Gage Ziehl.
“I’ll remember this night for a long time,” Caba said. “There were so many good moments tonight. Everything was really flowing well for me…Big shoutout to Jacoby for the ultimate crowd silencer.”
Virginia Tech lefty David Shoemaker (3-2) was charged with the loss after surrendering the decisive blow to Long.
The Hurricanes stormed out to an early 4-0 lead to greet freshman right-hander Brett Renfrow.
In the top of the first, Cuvet clobbered a three-run jack to put Miami on the board.
Cuvet’s 18th blast moved the third baseman into second place on the Hurricanes’ freshmen home run list, trailing only Pat Burrell (23) in 1996.
“It’s pretty cool,” Cuvet said. “I’ve put in a lot of work and I’m honored to be in this position amongst some of the greats to ever wear this uniform.”
Five pitches later, second baseman Dorian Gonzalez Jr. padded the early advantage with a solo shot of his own.
After the Hokies leveled the score at 4-4, Gonzalez Jr. struck again.
The junior launched a 422-foot opposite-field nuke to break the stalemate, giving the captain his first career multi-homer game.
Virginia Tech pushed across a run in both the fifth and sixth to set the stage for the Hurricanes’ late heroics.
Miami will look to secure the series Saturday. First pitch is set for 7 p.m.
“We need to come out and play as hard as we can and keep stacking wins,” Long said. “This is crunch time and we came together when it mattered most tonight.”
To keep up with the University of Miami baseball team on social media, follow @CanesBaseball on X, Instagram and Facebook.
