No. 8 Miami baseball shows no mercy to FIU in offensive onslaught for 10th win in row
Neighborly love?
Not a chance.
Not even neighborly like.
The No. 8 Miami Hurricanes crushed the FIU Panthers 17-1 Wednesday night at Mark Light Field, setting up a three-game showdown this weekend with the No. 3 Virginia Cavaliers (25-3, 9-3 heading into Wednesday night against Liberty).
All the UM starters reached base at least once, but left fielder Edgardo Villegas arguably had the most fun with a solo home run in the first inning, 3-run homer in the second and RBI-double in the third. Teammate Dominic Pitelli, the elite-fielding shortstop who is listed as 5-11 and 175 pounds, hit his third home run (this one for 2 RBI) since last weekend, when he became the first Hurricane in history to hit two grand slams in one series (against Duke). Pitelli also had three singles Wednesday, one that drove home two runs.
“You put in the work and anything can happen,’’ said Pitelli, who struggled at the plate last season with a .219 batting average. He’s now on fire with a .347 average.
Villegas (.341) had another reason to be happy.
“It’s amazing,’’ he said. “Our coach told us we were going to have a steak dinner if we won 10 games in a row. We’re excited to play Virginia. We have a great streak winning and I know we’re ready for them.”
The Canes (23-6, 10-2 Atlantic Coast Conference), who had 19 hits, have not lost since March 20 against Clemson. Their streak — the longest since an 11-game streak in 2018 — includes wins over FAU, three-game sweeps against North Carolina and at Duke and two against Florida Gulf Coast.
How bad was it for the visitors Wednesday?
UM led 9-0 in the second inning, 11-0 in the third and 15-0 by the end of the fourth. It would have been more had FIU right fielder Mario Zabala not made an amazing throw home that nailed CJ Kayfus to end the third inning. Kayfus had a 4-RBI night Wednesday that included a home run.
UM added two runs in the eighth to complete the romp.
Canes winning pitcher Jake Garland (5-1) gave up the only FIU run in the eighth inning on singles by Jayden Melendez and Bryan Loriga, and a groundout that scored Melendez. Garland allowed only six hits and walked one.
“Just what the doctor ordered,’’ coach Gino DiMare said of Garland’s performance.
DiMare confirmed that the Canes, indeed, would be eating steak soon.
This story was originally published April 6, 2022 at 8:44 PM.
