No. 22 Miami, buoyed by Palmquist, Morales and wild crowd, downs No. 14 Gators
Canes-Gators delivered again Friday night — at least for the Miami Hurricanes, who utterly thrilled the Mark Light Field capacity crowd of 3,482 with a 5-2 victory against rival Florida.
Led by left-handed ace Carson Palmquist and hard-hitting Yohandy “Yoyo” Morales, Miami (8-1) took the opening game of a home series against the Gators (8-3) for the first time since 2014.
With the rowdy crowd roaring, Morales smacked a 1-0 Hunter Barco pitch 400 feet over the left-field fence to drive home Jacob Burke (single) and give the Hurricanes a 2-0 fourth-inning lead they never relinquished.
“It’s just so nice to have the crowd back... an electric feeling,’’ UM coach Gino DiMare said. “It’s been a long time. I only wish we could put more people in here. I hope they didn’t have to turn fans away. Great energy.”
An inning after Morales’ homer, UM added another two runs. CJ Kayfus’s checked-swing bunt sent Dominic Pitelli (single) sliding head first into home plate and immediately throwing up the U as he popped up through the dust to make it 3-0. Then, Jacob Burke singled up the middle and Morales was at it again, doubling to left field and driving home Burke, who also slid head first for a 4-0 Miami lead.
The Canes got their fifth run, unearned, in the seventh.
Palmquist kept Florida scoreless through his five innings, giving up three hits and three walks, and hitting one batter for his third consecutive 2022 win as starter. He struck out six, including Sterlin Thompson with bases loaded in the fifth inning.
“Awesome,’’ Palmquist said of the strikeout. “It brought out the energy in the dugout and got everyone fired up and really fired me up. Against UF, being a huge situation, it was a good thing to get through.’’
“He battled through it,’’ DiMare said of Palmquist, who threw 91 pitches, ultimately ending his night at least an inning earlier than DiMare would have liked. “I would like to see him go six — he could have maybe even gone seven if he would have finished those innings off early. We just couldn’t put ‘em away, and that’s something you’ve got to do.
“But all in all I’m very happy with how he threw. He’s our Friday night guy.’’
Miami closer Andrew Walters pitched the final 2 1/3 innings for his third save.
UF starter Barco (2-1) allowed four earned runs on seven hits in five innings for the loss. He struck out five and threw a wild pitch.
The Gators scored two runs in the seventh on RBI-singles by Thompson and Wyatt Langford, both hits against reliever Rafe Schlesinger.
As befitting a Canes-Gator matchup, controversy immediately ensued when Gators leadoff batter Halter thought he got hit in his hand by Palmquist’s pitch. But a replay review by officials deemed it hit the nob of Halter’s bat and was fielded by the third baseman for the groundout. The next two batters struck out swinging and the Canes crowd went wild.
Down went Miami 1-2-3, its first two batters swinging, and the rivalry was on.
By the top of the fourth, three plays were reviewed by the umps, and all three calls stood. The third involved a Palmquist pickoff of Gator Josh Rivera.
Palmquist, last year’s All-American closer, Stopper of the Year Award finalist and 2022 Golden Spikes Award candidate, headed into 2022 with a 2.24 ERA and 90 strikeouts and 13 walks over 56 1/3 innings the past two seasons.
He was named the No. 2 starter before this season’s opener, but promoted to No. 1 after Alejandro Rosario struggled in his two starts. Palmquist, a USA Baseball Collegiate National Team member, came into Friday’s opener 2-0 with a 1.74 ERA and left with a 1.17.
Barco also won his first two games this season, bringing a 0.75 ERA into Friday before his first loss.
The second game of the three-game series is at 6 p.m. Saturday, moved ahead one hour from its original 7 p.m. start.
This story was originally published March 4, 2022 at 10:12 PM.
