Hurricanes once again showcase deep lineup in ACC tournament opener
The Miami Hurricanes baseball team knew its strength for the 2026 season was going to be its offense. Miami returned all four of its top hitters from last season in Daniel Cuvet, Jake Ogden, Derek Williams and Max Galvin and a slew of talent via the transfer portal and in its freshman class.
Miami’s bats have kept it alive all season, with the Hurricanes showing the ability to outslug their opponents more often than not even if their pitching faltered.
“We have got a long lineup,” Hurricanes coach J.D. Arteaga said. “There aren’t too many breaks there.”
That was on full display once again Wednesday when the fifth-seeded Hurricanes routed the No. 12 seed Stanford Cardinal 11-2 in the second round of the Atlantic Coast Conference baseball tournament in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Even with Cuvet missing his 14th consecutive game with a stress fracture in his lower back, Miami pounded out 12 hits, with every player in the starting lineup producing at least one hit. It was Miami’s 19th game out of 54 this season with double-digit runs scored.
And while the top of the order continues to set the table — Ogden is hitting .316 with 57 runs scored, Williams is hitting a team-best .385 with 15 home runs and 66 RBI and NC State transfer Alex Sosa has a team-best 16 home runs and 58 runs scored to go along with 64 RBI and a .333 average — Arteaga pointed to the bottom of the lineup’s success on Wednesday as critical for Miami moving forward.
The Hurricanes’ Nos. 7-9 hitters on Wednesday in Gabriel Milano, Vance Sheahan and Fabio Peralta reached base six times total and scored four of Miami’s first five runs against the Cardinal.
“It’s nice to see the bottom end of the lineup started to do some things — not necessarily just having to swing the bat, but the bunts and safety squeezes and moving guys over and making productive outs,” Arteaga said. “Those things are very important. You’re not going to sit there, especially against good pitching, and just swing your way through a staff and score a ton of runs. You have got to be able to manufacture runs and produce runs in other ways. The guys are kind of clicking on all cylinders right now, and it’s the right time of the year to be there.”
Overall, the Hurricanes enter their ACC tournament quarterfinal against Boston College on Thursday ranked 17th nationally and fourth in the ACC in runs scored (455), 35th nationally and seventh in the ACC in on-base-plus-slugging (.902), and 37th nationally and sixth in the ACC in batting average (.303).
This and that
- Freshman catcher Alonzo Alvarez landed in the Hurricanes’ record book with his four-hit performance on Wednesday against Stanford. With two home runs and two doubles, Alvarez’s 12 total bases are the most by a freshman in a game in school history. The previous record was 11, last accomplished by Gaby Sanchez in 2003. His two home runs tied the school record in a game for a freshman. He was the second UM freshman to do so this season, as Dylan Dubovik had a multi-homer game on Feb. 21 against Lafayette.
- Left-handed pitcher Rob Evans on Wednesday earned his 10th win of the season. He is the first Hurricanes starting pitcher since Michael Mediavilla in 2016 to reach the 10-win mark in a season. Evans on the season has a 3.16 ERA with 94 strikeouts against 29 walks and a .202 batting average against over 82 2/3 innings. He could become Miami’s first pitcher with at least 100 strikeouts in a season since Greg Ziehl in 2023 and the first since at least 2010 with double-digit wins and triple digit strikeouts.
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