In five days, the Miami Hurricanes will reintroduce college football to Land Shark Stadium.

If the Marlins have any say about it, their co-tenants will still have a dirt infield to muddle through come October.

With University of Miami school president Donna Shalala and several thousand school employees and family members in attendance on UM Family Night, the Marlins picked up a game on the first-place Phillies and kept their flickering playoff hopes alive by bashing the visiting Nationals 11-3 on a soggy Saturday night.

The third largest paid crowd of the season (38,214) waited through a two-hour, 34-minute rain delay at the start but were rewarded with several C-A-N-E-S chants led by Sebastian the Ibis and the Miami Maniac and the first career home run by Marlins rookie and former Hurricane Gaby Sanchez -- a two-run blast -- in the sixth.

``It was like tunnel vision -- I didn't even think about it as I was rounding the bases. It didn't hit until I got to the dugout,'' said Sanchez, whose parents and fiancée were in attendance.

``It was real fun -- almost like being back with all the mascots and the C-A-N-E-S chants.''

But the night was really about Jorge Cantu, who more than made up for his rough outing Friday when he went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position and left five runners on base in a Marlins loss.

The third baseman jump-started the Marlins in the first when he drilled a three-run blast a few rows below where the University of Miami band was sitting in the teal seats in left-center field.

He followed it with a two-run double in the fifth to put the Marlins ahead 5-1. Cantu, second on the team with 43 multihit games and 86 RBI, finished 2 for 3 and matched a career-high with five runs batted in. It was the third time this season he had five RBI and the fifth time in his career.

``Last night, it just slipped away from us. But that's the type of team we have around here,'' Cantu said. ``We just got to keep on grinding it.''

Cody Ross had a pretty good game, too. He made a catch on the run before crashing up against the wall in the fourth, hit a solo home run in the sixth and drove in a run with a double in the seventh.

It was all more than enough offense for the Marlins, who again failed to have a starter work deep into the game. Right-hander Anibal Sanchez was in line to pick up his second win since coming back from a shoulder injury Aug. 21.

But manager Fredi Gonzalez pulled him after Adam Dunn doubled in a run to make it 5-2 and Sanchez walked Josh Willingham to bring the tying run to the plate. Sanchez's pitching line included six hits, four walks and four strikeouts on 87 pitches, 54 for strikes.

``It was a team win,'' Sanchez said.

``That's more important now.''

The Marlins bullpen had an easier time.

Tim Wood, who picked up his first major-league win, struck out two and retired all four batters he faced.

Brendan Donnelly struck out two and gave up one hit in the seventh. Rookie Justin Maxwell hit his second solo home run of the game off Matt Lindstrom in the eighth. But that was it for the lowly Nationals.

• Latin singer Willy Chirino performed the next-to-last Super Saturday concert after the game.

Sean Paul, a Grammy winning Dance Hall/Reggae performer, is scheduled to perform the final Saturday concert on Sept. 26.

• Because of the rain delay, ticket stubs for Saturday's game can be exchanged for a $1 ticket to any remaining 2009 regular-season home game.