For one night, No. 11 Miami’s bats came to life after being quieted by fourth-ranked North Carolina over the weekend.
The Hurricanes (27-13) rallied from an early 4-1 deficit to beat Florida Gulf Coast 13-7 Wednesday night at Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field in the first of a six-game home stand.
Junior Chris Herrmann knocked a two-out RBI single up the middle to score pinch hitter Iden Nazario for the game winner in a four-run seventh.
“When I was up at the plate today, in my mind I was saying, ‘just try not to do too much and drive in some runs’ and it happened for me,” Herrmann said.
Nazario, who is also Miami’s Sunday starter, had doubled with two outs to jump-start the Canes in a 7-7 deadlock.
“I think the guy can hit and I probably haven’t gotten him enough at-bats. I can tell you he’s starting Friday night as DH,” head coach Jim Morris said. “He’s got a good swing, the ball jumps off his bat. To me, that was the biggest hit of the game.”
Senior Dave DiNatale blasted a three-run homer later in the inning to extend the lead to 11-7. Freshman Harold Marinez added four RBIs for the Hurricanes, including a three-run homer in the fourth.
Reliever Daniel Miranda (3-2) pitched 1.2 perfect innings with two strikeouts for the win. Jacob Barnes (0-1) picked up the loss for the Eagles (22-16) as he gave up four runs on four hits in two innings.
With 14 games left before the ACC tournament, Miami hosts a three-game weekend series against the Coastal Division’s last-place Virginia Tech Hokies (24-15, 9-11).
“We just told each other that this is a point in our season where you can either decide to crumble or decide to get together as a team and really rally behind each other and and come out with a lot of heart and a lot of fire,” DiNatale said.