Yoyo saves No. 6 Canes from (very) short-lived drought as Miami sweeps North Dakota State
%20and%20Cam%20Clute%20after%20hitting%20a%20home%20run%20against%20North%20Dakota%20State%20on%20Sunday,%20May%208,%202022.jpg "Yohandy Morales celebrates with UM batboys Jon Michael Quijano (left) and Kam Clute after hitting a home run against North Dakota State on Sunday, May 8, 2022")
From a flood of 38 runs Friday and Saturday to a near drought, the runs nearly dried up Sunday for the sixth-ranked Miami Hurricanes.
Then came Yohandy “Yoyo” Morales.
Morales hit two home runs Sunday for his team-leading 10th and 11th of the season to help the Canes come from behind to defeat North Dakota State 6-4 for UM’s fifth weekend sweep of the season.
Down 4-3 going to bat in the seventh, Morales’ 430-foot no-doubter scored three runs after singles by CJ Kayfus and Edgardo Villegas to put UM ahead for good at Mark Light Field.
“Yoyo had an unbelievable day today — picked me up, picked the team up, picked his teammates up,’’ UM coach Gino DiMare said. “Just a really, really big win.”
After winning 22-0 Friday and 16-1 Saturday, Miami initially cooled off Sunday. The Bison (25-15, 12-4 Summit) scored two runs in the fourth on a home run to center by Jack Simonsen, and another two in the seventh on Druw Sacket’s homer to left to take the 4-3 lead before Morales’ boomer.
“I told the guys after the first night that not all the games are like that,’’ DiMare said. “And then sure enough, the second game was very similar to the first game. It’s crazy. That doesn’t happen often. And then we get more of the normal back and forth. We needed to sweep. We can’t afford to go backwards now.”
The Hurricanes (35-12, 17-7 Atlantic Coast Conference) hit their 10th home run of the series in the opening inning after smacking five in Friday’s opener and four Saturday. Morales, now hitting .346, was 3 for 4 Sunday with 4 RBI and the two home runs. He was 10 for 15 with three homers and 9 RBI over the weekend.
“I felt like we’d do what we have to do to get the win today,’’ Morales said. “Not every game we’re going to win by 20 runs. It’s baseball. But we got through it together and came up big when we needed to.”
Was it tough to stay focused after scoring so many runs the first two games?
“Like Gino always says, ‘The next game is the biggest game of the year,’’’ Morales said. “No matter who we’re playing, we’re just going to go out there with the same mentality.”
Miami is 21-1 this season when scoring first. Since the Canes’ four-game mini slump April 24 through the 30th, UM has won four in a row.
UM true freshman reliever Gage Ziehl earned his first victory as a Hurricane, striking out two Bison in 2/3 of an inning. Closer Andrew Walters collected his 13th save in 2022.
UM starter Alejandro Rosario allowed two earned runs on seven hits in 4 2/3 innings. He walked two and struck out two.
The Canes have eight regular-season games remaining. They meet UCF at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Light before traveling to Tallahassee for a three-game weekend series against Florida State.
“We want to keep this going,’’ DiMare said. “Certainly all the wins matter now. [We’re] trying to put ourselves in a position at the end of the year hopefully where you give yourself a chance to host [an NCAA regional]. We’re in that position. We’ve got to finish strong.”
This story was originally published May 8, 2022 at 2:57 PM.
