Miami baseball, behind dominant freshman, rises to occasion and opens with regional win
The Miami Hurricanes did what they had to do Friday in their NCAA regional opener in Gainesville — but they could barely catch their collective breath.
Behind an exceptional pitching performance by true freshman Alejandro Rosario, another clutch save by All-American closer Carson Palmquist and except for one play, excellent fielding by the Canes, No. 2 regional seed UM defeated No. 3 South Alabama 1-0 to advance to the winners’ bracket game against USF at 4 p.m. Saturday.
The No. 15 national seed and No. 1 regional seed Florida Gators, playing on their home field, were upset 5-3 by No. 4 seed USF (29-27) in Friday’s first game, sending the Gators to the losers’ bracket. The Gators (38-21) will face South Alabama (33-21) at noon Saturday.
Rosario (6-4, 5.21 ERA) had a superb performance for UM (33-19) in his first start in an NCAA regional, keeping South Alabama scoreless in his 6 1/3 innings. He allowed four hits, walked two and struck out five in 90 pitches before he was replaced by Daniel Federman to finish out the seventh.
“Alejandro was outstanding,’’ UM coach Gino DiMare said. “It was the deepest we’ve had our starter go in a long time. You don’t need to be eating up your bullpen. That was about as perfect as we could have drawn it up.’’
Canes All-American closer Carson Palmquist entered the game in the eighth, and immediately walked Hunter Donaldson. Santi Montiel’s sac bunt sent Donaldson to second for Palmquist to face the Jaguars’ top hitter Ethan Wilson, who flied out deep to left field. Michael Sandle then grounded out to end the threat.
Palmquist, the nation’s No. 2 saves leader, earned his 14th save of 2021.
The offensively ailing Hurricanes, buoyed by seven walks, also could only muster four hits. But this time it was enough.
UM scored its only run in the fifth with a single to left by Dominic Pitelli before true freshman CJ Kayfus, starting in only his eighth collegiate game, was hit by a pitch above the right corner of his mouth. Several minutes passed while UM trainer Vinny Scavo tended to the bleeding cut. After Kayfus went back into the dugout to change his blood-stained pants, the Jaguars brought in reliever Jackson Boyd to replace starter Tyler Lehmann (one earned run on four hits and four walks, with two wild pitches and a hit batter).
Anthony Vilar then laid down a beautiful sac bunt, sending Pitelli to third and Kayfus to second. Yohandy Morales walked to load the bases for Adrian Del Castillo, who flied deep to center to score Pitelli for the 1-0 Miami lead. Christian Del Castillo sent a searing ground ball that hugged the first-base-line, but Kaleb DeLa Torre made an exceptional defensive play to save two runs and end the inning.
“It looked to me like he just turned enough, thank goodness,’’ DiMare said of Kayfus’ injury. “There’s no damage to his teeth. He is probably going to have a couple stitches. You have a baseball coming up in your face and it’s a scary thing.”
The Jaguars came close, but not close enough, with two outs in the sixth. Kayfus, his mouth looking increasingly bruised, misplayed a deep fly to right by Michael Sandle and let it drop for a triple. But Rosario proceeded to strike out cleanup hitter Hunter to end the inning.
Miami stranded seven runners in the first five innings, including two in the eventful fifth.
▪ In the Austin Regional, which is matched up against Miami’s bracket, No. 1 regional seed/No. 2 national seed Texas dominated No. 4 regional seed Southern 11-0. Austin’s No. 2 regional seed Arizona State met No. 3 Fairfield at night. The eventual Austin Regional winner will meet the Gainesville Regional winner next weekend, likely in Austin, in one of eight super regionals around the nation.
This story was originally published June 4, 2021 at 8:46 PM.
