Miami Hurricanes run wild on bases to take early lead in midweek win over FGCU
The Miami Hurricanes were aggressive on the basepaths early Wednesday against the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles.
It paid off.
A pair of double steals in the first two innings helped the Hurricanes manufacture a handful of runs early and the bats stayed alive well after that as Miami rolled to a 14-6 win over FGCU at Mark Light Field.
The Hurricanes improve to 8-1 on the season ahead of their weekend series at the Florida Gators, who are ranked No. 8 nationally by D1Baseball. FGCU falls to 4-4.
The base stealing began in the first. Third baseman Daniel Cuvet and left fielder Max Galvin hit back-to-back one-out groundball singles down the left-field line and executed the double steal with two outs. Designated hitter Bobby Marsh then drove them both home with a single to right field before catcher Tanner Smith hit an RBI double to cap the three-run inning.
In the second, right fielder Derek Williams was hit by a pitch and center fielder Fabio Peralta reached on a throwing error by FGCU catcher Mac Moise on a sacrifice bunt attempt. The duo then executed their own double steal and eventually scored. Second baseman Dorian Gonzalez Jr. hit an RBI groundout to plate Williams before Cuvet hit a sacrifice fly that drove in Peralta to put the Hurricanes up 5-1.
Shortstop Jake Ogden also stole a base in the third inning.
Miami is now a perfect 16 for 16 on stolen base attempts so far in the young season. Galvin and Williams each has three stolen bases. Cuvet, Ogden and Gonzalez each has two. Five others — Smith, Marsh, Peralta, Todd Hudson and Brandon DeGoti — each has one.
The Hurricanes then tacked on five more runs in the fourth — highlighted by a two-run home run by Marsh —and added four runs over the sixth, seventh and eighth innings.
Marsh finished the game with four RBI — his third time this season driving in that many runs in a game — and leads the team with 19 RBI on the season. Galvin, who has safely reached base in all nine UM games, and Ogden each had three hits, two RBI and two runs scored, with Ogden capping scoring with a solo home run in the eighth. Cuvet and Smith had multiple hits as well.
It was more than enough run support for the Hurricanes’ pitching.
Reese Lumpkin held FGCU to two runs on five hits and three walks while striking out nine over six innings. A trio of freshmen in Ryan Ashford, Alex Stanyek and AJ Ciscar plus sophomore Brixton Lofgren gave up four runs on five hits over the final three innings out of the bullpen.
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