The Hurricanes snapped out of their minor slump in grand fashion this weekend, as they took care of business on their road trip to Virginia Tech with a sweep.
On Friday night, starting pitcher Cesar Carrillo moved to 8-0 this season and 20-0 in his career as the Hurricanes won the opener 7-3. Carrillo struck out six Hokies in six innings of work and extended his scoreless inning streak to 20.1 as he did not allow a run. He lowered his ERA to a staggering 0.86 and Miami improved to 29-0 when Carrillo is on the mound.
At the plate, the ‘Canes pounded out 16 hits, which included a 4-for-5 performance from Walter Diaz, and five other Hurricanes had multiple-hit nights.
Danny Figueroa was ejected in the second inning for arguing a call at second base after he was called out on a stolen base attempt.
Saturday afternoon saw Miami equal its highest offensive output of the year as the Hurricanes downed the Hokies 20-5. The series was shifted from the campus of Virginia Tech to a minor league ballpark about 45 minutes away. Danny Valencia didn’t mind the switch at all, as he finished with five hits and eight RBI, including two triples.
Brendan Katin went 3-for-6 with two homeruns and six RBI as the Hurricanes racked up 17 hits on the afternoon and benefited from four Hokie errors.
Miami starter Brandon Camardese was perfect into the fifth inning and ended up pitching five innings, giving up five runs on seven hits.
On Sunday afternoon, Virginia Tech gave Miami all it could handle in the series finale. UM scored two runs in the first inning, but the Hokies came back with a three-run homerun off of Hurricanes starter Ricky Orta to take a 4-2 lead.
The Hurricanes climbed back into the ballgame with a string of hits and took the lead on a Ryan Braun single past third base to take a 5-4 lead. Miami pitcher Chris Perez gave up a run in the bottom of the eighth to tie the score at 5-5, but the ‘Canes scored four runs in the top of the ninth to take a 9-5 lead. Perez stayed on for the bottom half of the ninth to close out the game.
The Hurricanes return to action next weekend when they travel to Chapel Hill to face a top 10 team: the University of North Carolina Tar Heels. All three games can be heard on 90.5 WVUM.
Douglas Kroll can be contacted at d.kroll@umiami.edu..