UM baseball stuns Penn State with walk-off home run to take opening-season series

CJ got the KO.

The 22nd-ranked Miami Hurricanes — down to their last out in what seemed like certain defeat — stunned the Penn State Nittany Lions, 3-2, on Sunday afternoon.

Miami first baseman CJ Kayfus provided the knockout punch — a 405-foot, two-run, walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth inning. Penn State reliever Steven Miller (0-1) threw a first-pitch changeup at 83 mph, and Kayfus pulled it to right-center at 102 mph.

Not to be forgotten: With two outs and nobody on in the ninth, Edgardo Villegas singled to set the stage for Kayfus.

It was Kayfus’ first career walk-off homer, and it was likely a surprise to just about everyone …

Except for Jack Scanlon, Miami’s backup catcher.

Here’s why: Kayfus was clearly frustrated after his 106-mph line drive in the fifth inning was turned into a double play by Penn State second baseman Kyle Hannon.

Scanlon, who transferred in from Oregon this season, put his arm around Kayfus after that play.

“I was struggling,” said Kayfus, who also had an error at first base and was 1-for-11 before his homer. “He pulled me aside and said: ‘I believe in you, and you’re going to win this game.’

“It was the craziest thing ever, but I owe it all to him.”

Added Canes coach Gino DiMare: “CJ hadn’t had a good series. You could see he was frustrated. I’m sure glad Jack had a talk with him. We need to hire Jack as one of our assistant coaches.”

Thanks to Kayfus — and Scanlon — Miami, which lost the season opener on Friday, won the three-game series in dramatic fashion.

Miami’s other heroes included true freshman second baseman Blake Cyr, who went 2-for-4 with one RBI. He had no hits or RBI prior to Sunday.

Canes right fielder Zach Levenson, who slugged three homers this weekend, continued his hot hitting, going 2-for-3 with one walk. He is batting a team-high .500 on the season.

Miami used four pitchers, including starter Alejandro Rosario, who allowed four hits, four walks and two runs in 5 1/3 innings.

All-American Andrew Walters (1-0) earned the win with two dominant scoreless innings, striking out five batters.

Penn State went up 1-0 in the third on a wild pitch and made it 2-0 on an RBI single in the fourth.

After that, both teams stranded the bases loaded. Miami did it in the fourth as leadoff batter Dario Gomez grounded into a fielder’s choice. Penn State did in the sixth as leadoff batter Jay Harry looked at strike three on a close full-count toss from freshman reliever Chris Scinta. That was Scinta’s collegiate debut – one inning of scoreless baseball.

Miami got on the board in the bottom of the sixth as Ian Farrow singled, advanced to second on Miller’s failed pickoff throw and scored on Cyr’s single to center.

In the top of the eighth, Miami reliever Brian Walters, who made his Hurricanes debut on Sunday, got into trouble due to the error on Kayfus and a walk. But Brian’s older brother, Andrew Walters, bailed him out, getting three straight outs, including the last two on strikeouts.

In the bottom of the ninth, Dominic Pitelli stroked a leadoff single, but he was thrown out trying to steal second on a throw from catcher Josh Spiegel and a tag from shortstop Harry.

On that play, Miami’s leadoff batter, Gomez, had gotten ahead in the count, 3-0. At 3-1, there was a miscommunication with the sign, according to DiMare.

“We had the sacrifice bunt on, but Dominic didn’t see it,” DiMare said. “So, he ran. But it’s not on Dom. I’ll take the blame. We always run 3-1. It’s an automatic run unless I take it off. I didn’t take it off, but I put the sac bunt on. And we don’t ever steal when we have the sac bunt on.

“That out was deflating. But Kayfus is right. There is no clock in our sport.”

Good thing for the Canes who got the one big punch they needed to win the weekend – the knockout blow from Kayfus.

“That,” Kayfus said, “was pretty special.”