The roller coaster season for Canes baseball continues. Miami earned another ACC series victory last weekend, this time over North Carolina. The bats were alive on Friday night, with the Canes jumping all over UNC early. In the end, they earned a 14-1 win with the game being mercy ruled after 7 innings. Saturday night was a completely different story. A low scoring game, Miami found themselves down 1-0 going into the 7th inning. But a Jason Torres home run that inning tied it up, and set the stage for more late-game madness. Dorian Gonzalez came to the plate and hit a bomb to left center on the first pitch he saw, clinching the series for Miami.
As was the case the previous weekend, Miami could not complete the sweep on Sunday. In the end, UNC returned the favor from Friday night, and run-ruled the Canes 18-6 after 7 innings. All in all, the Canes will call that a successful weekend.
They carried that success through the midweek, but not without more drama. Against FIU, Miami fell behind in the top of the first, but tied it in the bottom half of the inning. They then got a great relief outing from Ashton Crowther, but fell behind in the 7th. An incredible play by Blake Cyr in left field kept the FIU lead at only 1, which was crucial as the Canes managed some Mark Light Magic in the 9th to steal a 4-3 win.
Overall, the Canes are sitting at 12-8, and 4-2 in conference play. They will make the first major road trip this week, traveling to South Bend.
@Notre Dame
Fri-Sun, Mar 22-24, Fri: 3:30PM, Sat: 2:00PM, Sun: 1:00PM; TV: ACCNX
It has not been a great start for the Fighting Irish, who are 12-8 like Miami, but 0-6 in ACC play. They have already been swept by Virginia Tech and Florida State, and split a 4-game series with FIU.
Notre Dame’s pitching has let them down, with a team ERA of 6.80. Their best pitcher from last season is still recovering from a Tommy John surgery, which has not helped matters. ND has rotated through a few different options at starter over the past few weekends, so it’s difficult to predict exactly who the Canes will see this weekend. Jack Radel has only started in 2 of his 6 appearances, including last Sunday, but he has been generally impressive in those outings (3.31 ERA). Matt Bedford (5.12 ERA) started last Saturday, and has 6 starts on the year, so he’s likely to be one of the three as well.
Despite their 0-6 conference record, Notre Dame has been dangerous at the plate. It’s not just a few players, either — 6 hitters have at least 4 home runs. TJ Williams leads the way with a .419 average, but 3 other Irish hitters are above .300. Jack Penny, who is tabbed as Notre Dame’s best prospect, has struggled so far this season, hitting only .215.
Finally, it’s worth noting that the Irish have been strong in the field. They have just 13 errors on the season (by comparison, Miami is at 22), and they do not make many mistakes in the middle of the infield.
Predictions
CLARKE
The Canes once again proved me wrong. They are certainly resilient, and the team does seem to have good chemistry. It also helps that some of the other bats are starting to pick up slack for Cuvet and Torres. The pitching, however, remains a big concern. It’s a big mystery which version of each starter we are going to see week-to-week. And so even though Miami should probably sweep this Notre Dame team, I do not see enough consistency to pick them to. I do think they continue their streak of taking 2 of 3. And so long as they take care of business in the midweek, that’s a successful week.
PARASURAMAN
The thing that worries me this week is the weather. There is a decent chance the Friday game gets snowed out, and it will be frigid all weekend. That’s not exactly Miami weather. This is also the Canes first real road test, and it will be interesting to see if the power translates to other parks. I also worry about the fielding, especially playing on turf. The Canes have struggled in the field. I expect high scoring games, but Miami is the better team. The concerning items I mentioned prevent a sweep, but not a Canes’ series win as Miami takes 2 of 3.
Sebastian's Pub 