Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Canes Survive Another Scare

The consensus #1 Miami Hurricanes needed a fifth inning rally to defeat the North Florida Ospreys (27-25) at Mark Light Field Tuesday night. The Canes have rarely been vanquished this season, posting a 42-6 record, but they have lost to FIU, FAU, and were looking like they were on their way to losing against North Florida. It seems that the key to College World Series this year rests on not having to face non-elite Florida schools.

To game action...the Canes were down 1-0 in the 5th, and had only 3 hits up to that point. Coach Jim Morris has been vocal about his team's lull in hitting prowess the last few weeks, after an absolutely torrid start to the season, in which most games would find the Canes scoring 10 or more runs. The hitting slumber continued on Tuesday night, before Jemile Weeks started things off with a single in the 5th, setting the stage for Yonder Alonso to come up gargantuanly (something very typical this season) with his 16th HR of the season to make it 2-1. After that, Blake Tekotte, Dave DiNatali, and Mark Sobolewski helped pad the lead and secure the victory.

Next up for UM...the #2-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels for a three game series at The Light. It won't be easy - the Tar Heels lead the country with a 2.30 ERA and the Canes have had hitting problems (see above). But don't let last night fool you...just as easily as the Canes play down to their mediocre competition, they play up to their stellar competition. They'll be amped and ready for a hitting revival. Prediction: Canes take two out of three from the Heels this weekend in Coral Gables.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lately the Canes have been slacking...I'm a little bit worried about them. Hopefully they know what they're doing and can turn it on once the CWS start.

Anonymous said...

I think they know what they're doing Christian. Every time they've had to face a major college baseball power, they've done better than anyone in the country against them. This upcoming series against UNC will tell us a lot about whether that trend will continue at the very time it needs to continue.