Resilient Canes Best Duke in Weekend Series

Turning to Charles Dicken's phrase, 'It was the worst of times, it was the best of times.' The worst came in the top of the sixth inning in last Friday night's series opener against the visiting Duke Blue Devils night, had been building momentum, closing an early 4-0 deficit after the first to within two. (24-14, 9-9 ACC).

Regular readers will know the precarious position Miami Baseball (20-17, 6-9) has placed itself in with the slow start to this season. Things have been on a gradual upswing lately, and the Canes, down 5-3 after five frames Friday Miami received an added jolt of adrenaline in the top of the sixth as they turned a 1-6-3 double-play.

Duke had two outs, and none on; positive Miami vibes flowed from the Miami dugout and throughout the stands at Mark Light Stadium. Hyperbole is an intentional exaggeration. It would be of no use here. There is no way to enhance or embellish what came next. Armageddon, bloodbath, catastrophe, debacle, don't explain it. I could go through the rest of the alphabet, but still wouldn't get there. I'm not saying it's the worst thing a baseball team ever did or had happened to them, but it happened with two outs and nobody on. That would have destroyed the hearts, minds, and spirit of most baseball teams.

Here it goes: Miami is looking for the third out to get to bat in the bottom of the sixth. Next batter singles to right field and moves to second after a base on balls. A relief pitcher comes on and hits the next two batters with pitches. One run in, bases loaded, and again, a new pitcher. Still only down 6-3 with two out. The next batter hits a grand slam home run, and the following batter, a solo homer. From 5-3 to 11-3 in a mind-numbing few minutes. It's hard to imagine such a turn of emotions in a six-batter window.

As I've quoted former Miami head basketball coach Jim Larranaga here before, "Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you respond." Paraphrasing again, I'll purloin Mark Antony's oration at Julius Caesar's funeral. "I'm not here to bury Miami's Baseball team; I'm here to praise them."

If anything, this year's Canes are resilient. They showed the qualities of that resilience in Sat urday's and Sunday's games. They viewed Friday's game as a learning experience. They faced their weekend challenges head-on with confidence and a positive attitude, which was apparent when they stepped on the field for Saturday's pre-game practice.

On to the game. AJ Ciscar started for Miami and retired nine of the first ten batters; Duke had another left-hander on the bump, 6'4" Andrew Healy, who was clocking 95 mph consistently on the radar gun. Miami went down 1-2-3 in the first but came to life in the second. Derek Williams led off and hit a bomb far over the left field wall for a 1-0 lead. Dorian Gonzalez Jr. followed with a double and stole third, but two strikeouts followed. Max Galvin worked a walk, and Todd Hudson made it 3-0 with a single to the right field corner that brought Gonzalez in and Galvin all the way home from first.

Daniel Cuvet led off Miami's third with another blast over the left field wall, and it was 4-0. Duke responded in the fourth as they turned a hit by pitch and four 'hit it where they ain't' singles into three runs. Duke tied it 4-4 in the fifth with a walk and two more rinky-dink singles. The Canes went ahead 5-4 in the sixth after a Tanner Smith single was misplayed, allowing him to take second, and Galvin followed with an RBI single.

It's time to talk about resiliency again. Alex Giroux was one of Miami's hurlers who had a tough Friday night. Giroux earned the win, retiring eight consecutive Blue Devils after Duke tied it. Brian Walters took the ball in the eighth and ninth and notched the save in a zero-hit, three-strikeout performance.

Sunday's game was big. The Canes needed to define themselves. Were they Friday or Saturday nights, Miami Hurricanes?

Duke came out on fire. The Devils right fielder, Tyler Albright, hit a two-run dinger in the first, and Miami was again battling from Zatkowski offering over the left field fence to cut the deficit to 2-1 in the fourth, but a two-RBI double by 3B Jake Hyde put Duke up 4-1 after 4 1/2. Miami didn't blink. In what might be considered the defining moment of this season, they scored five times in the bottom of the inning to take a 6-4 lead.

D. Gonzalez opened the frame with a single. In a rare start at DH, Freshman Evan Tavares hit a towering home run to the scoreboard in left field, and the Canes were Miami reliever Will Smith came on with two outs in the Duke sixth, got the third out, and then put the Blue Devils down 1-2-3 in both the seventh and eighth.

D. Gonzalez was up again in Miami's eighth and mirrored his sixth-inning at-bat with another solo shot for an 8-6 two-run cushion as Duke came up in the ninth. Again within one at 4-3. Renzo Gonzalez worked a walk, Tanner Smith singled, and after a Michael Torres walk, there were none out, bases loaded, and the top of the order up.

Jake Ogden was next, and he went down swinging. Fabio Peralta followed and popped up to shortstop. It was up to Cuvet, who delivered with a line drive double to right-center that cleared the bases and put Miami on top 6-4. Duke has an excellent baseball team, and they came right back in the sixth when, after a walk to DH Sam Harris, 2B Jake Berger homered to left center, tying the contest at 6-6.

Miami's Captain, Dorian Gonzalez, had none of this. He led off Miami's sixth and took a 1-2 pitch over the right-center field wall. The Canes were up 7-6 after six. Brian Walters, who earned the save in Saturday's win, came on to close, and close he did. Walters got a fly out to the left on his first pitch, a three-pitch strikeout made it two down, and a ground ball back to Walters on a 1-0 fastball gave Miami the game and series win.

Miami baseball was reborn last weekend. The Canes that showed up for the weekend series were unsure and hesitant. The same group that walked off the field after Sunday's win was confident and assertive. The Canes have taken positive steps towards digging themselves out of the hole they dug with their play early this season. They are halfway through conference play with a 6-9 record. Going 10-5 in the remaining ACC games would almost guarantee a bid to an NCAA Regional for postseason play. Two of every three in the five remaining conference series is needed.

The toughest test will be this weekend against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (29-8, 14-4). The home series opens at 8:00 pm on Friday, April 18th, the first pitch on Saturday is at 4 pm, and the Easter Sunday start will be at 1:00 pm. Please come and show your support for the Hurricanes. That's it for now. Be well all, and Go, Canes!