The baseball team entered a new chapter of history, clinching its first official ACC series win over North Carolina State on Sunday at Mark Light Field in front of 2,011 fans by a score of 13-7.
Miami pitcher Brandon Camardese started Sunday in place of Chris Perez, who was suspended indefinitely by Head Coach Jim Morris after he was arrested and charged with DUI on Thursday night. Camardese pitched three innings, giving up two runs on five hits.
After the game, Morris said Camardese hadn’t seen enough playing time and that the plan was to give him about 50 to 60 pitches. He threw 61 pitches.
Ryan Braun and Jon Jay extended their hitting streaks to 16 and 14 games, respectively.
The Hurricanes’ first ACC game took place on Friday night, in which the ‘Canes dominated the Wolfpack 6-1 behind the intimidating pitching of ace Cesar Carrillo, who lasted a season-high 7.1 innings and struck out a career-high 10 batters. In turn, Carrillo gave up only three hits and one run, improving to 3-0 this season and 15-0 for his career. The ‘Canes improved to 24-0 in games that Carrillo has made an appearance.
Miami was also able to capitalize on several N.C. State mistakes as the team scored three runs off of four errors.
Saturday night’s outcome was much different for the Hurricanes, as they were exposed to the reality of playing in the ACC with an 11-5 defeat in front of 3,079 fans.
Miami starter Dan Touchet struggled in his outing, throwing 61 pitches in 2.1 innings of work, striking out three batters and giving up seven runs on seven hits. N.C. State starter Jeff Stallings pitched solidly for 5.2 innings, giving up two runs on nine hits.
Morris stressed the importance of pitching in the loss.
“It starts with pitching and it ends with pitching,” Morris said. “We didn’t pitch well, we didn’t locate well and we didn’t get ahead of their hitters. We’ve got to pitch better than we did today.”
Aside from pitching, the Hurricanes were also undone by a slow start altogether, facing a daunting 9-0 deficit in the sixth inning.
Miami was able to score two runs in the sixth inning off of RBI’s from Brendan Katin and Roger Tomas to make the score 9-2. However, by the time UM was able to generate more offense, it was the eighth inning, with Walter Diaz’ grounder scoring Katin for the fifth and final run.
Morris said the inability to win the pitching battle affected his team’s offense.
“When you get down by that many runs, you can’t run and it takes away your offense to a certain point,” he said.
Ultimately, the ‘Canes were able to get the pitching and timely hitting needed to close out the series with a win.
“N.C. State has a terrific club, and though we’ve got to play better than we did this weekend, I’m happy that we won today,” Morris said.
The ‘Canes return to action tonight when they take on Pittsburgh at Mark Light Field.
Mike Soto can be contacted at m.soto3@umiami.edu.