Grand slam highlights Miami Hurricanes’ rout over Florida State Seminoles
University of Miami sophomore Alex Toral came into Friday’s opening game against Atlantic Coast Conference nemesis Florida State tied for the league lead in home runs, with 12.
Then, with bases loaded and one mighty swing in the fifth inning, the 6-1, 220-pound lefty sent an 0-2 pitch by Drew Parrish over the Mark Light Field center field fence to become the ACC home run king — at least for the night — and lead Miami to an 11-0 rout over the Seminoles.
It was UM’s first shutout over FSU since April 26, 2015.
“Everyone knows this is a huge rivalry,’’ Toral said. “To put my team on top first, to start the series off like that, it feels great. ...To come up with the bases loaded, obviously my emotions were high.’’
Toral’s first career grand slam drove home Adrian Del Castillo (single), Raymond Gil (single), MIchael Amditis (intentional walk) and of course, himself, to give the Hurricanes a 4-0 lead and pave the way for the victory.
“Winning the first game certainly helps,’’ UM coach Gino DiMare said. “I told the guys we hadn’t really played a complete game this year. ...I didn’t realize, but six runs we scored with two outs in the seventh inning. And of course we played very good defense. Great complete game. I’m very happy.”
The Canes (19-11, 6-7 ACC) began their six-run seventh inning with a 2-RBI single by Freddy Zamora. Freshman JP Gates also drove in two runs with his double to center. Gil, who entered the game with the second highest batting average (.386) in the ACC, added an RBI-single to bring his average to .390.
UM right-handed ace Evan McKendry (5-1, 3.91 ERA) pitched an exceptional game, allowing no runs and three hits in seven innings. He struck out nine, including all three batters he faced in the fifth . He walked two.
“I felt like I was commanding my fastball pretty well,’’ McKendry said. “I struggled a little bit earlier in the game, but I sort of settled in after the first inning and just made my pitches and got ahead in the count.
“It was awesome,’’ McKendry said of the complete offensive and defensive Hurricanes’ performance. “Gino has been preaching that. We’ve been waiting for a game where everything clicks for us and today that was it. We pitched well. We hit well. We played good defense — no errors. And that’s exactly what we needed.’’
Added DiMare: “Evan threw great. He had 98 pitches in seven innings, which is efficient. That was big.’’
FSU, whose coach, Mike Martin — the winningest coach in NCAA Division I history — is retiring after this season, fell to 18-11 and 6-7 in the ACC.
The series continues at 7 p.m. Saturday.
This story was originally published April 5, 2019 at 9:54 PM.
