Hurricanes Cruise to Opening Night Victory
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The Miami Hurricanes baseball team (1-0) opened the season with a dominant 13-2 victory over the Lehigh Mountain Hawks (0-1) Friday night at Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field. With the win, the Hurricanes are now 19-3 on Opening Day since 2005.
Miami right-hander AJ Ciscar (1-0) earned the win, allowing two runs on five hits over five innings while striking out seven without walking a batter. Liam O’Hearen (0-1) took the loss for Lehigh.
Lehigh opened the scoring at the top of the third inning, capitalizing on a Miami fielding error after recording two singles and a hit batter.
Miami answered in the bottom half of the inning, erupting for six runs. Designated hitter Max Galvin got the Hurricanes on the board first with a bases-clearing double, plating Michael Torres and Jake Ogden to tie the game up at 2.
The Hurricanes battled their way through the order and found themselves with a chance to blow the game wide open with runners in scoring position.
Catcher Alex Sosa made sure of it.
The NC State transfer belted a three-run home run to right-center field, extending Miami’s lead to 5-2. The Hurricanes added another run later in the inning when sophomore Fabio Peralta delivered an RBI single to score Derek Williams, pushing the advantage to 6-2 by the end of the third.
Miami broke the game open even more in the bottom of the eighth inning, scoring seven runs to extend the lead. Ogden started the surge with an RBI triple to right-center, scoring newcomer Vance Sheahan. Galvin followed with an RBI single up the middle to plate Ogden and move the score to 7-2
Alex Sosa added an RBI single to center field, bringing home Galvin, and Williams kept the line moving with an RBI single to shallow left that scored Cuvet. Cian Copeland then delivered the biggest blow of the inning, lining a two-run double to left field to score Sosa and Williams.
Freshman Jailen Watkins capped the rally with an RBI single to left, scoring Copeland and pushing Miami’s advantage further out of reach, 13-2.
Miami’s bullpen combined for four scoreless innings in relief. Brixton Lofgren worked a clean sixth, Jake Dorn followed with 1 2/3 shutout frames, and Ryan Bilka recorded an out in the eighth before Lyndon Glidewell closed it out with a scoreless ninth. The group combined to allow three hits and struck out seven to preserve the win and move the Hurricanes to 1-0 on the season.
The series continues Saturday at 6 p.m. at Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field. The game will be streamed on ACCNX and broadcast live on WVUM 90.5 FM.
To stay up to date with the University of Miami baseball team, be sure to follow @canesbaseball on Instagram, X and Facebook.
