If one cliché were used to describe the weekend series between the Miami Hurricanes and the Florida State Seminoles, it would be: “That’s baseball.”
On Friday night, the Noles ousted the Canes in the longest game in Mark Light Field history, winning 8-7 in 17 innings.
On Saturday, Miami’s ace, Andrew Suarez, was bombarded by FSU, giving up a career-high of 10 earned runs in his first loss of the season.
Sunday afternoon, however, the roles reversed, as it was Miami who painted the scoreboard with 12 runs, including four home runs, en route to a shutout victory and avoiding the sweep.
After the big win, Head Coach Jim Morris joked around saying the reason the Canes won was because he finally had his first Mark Light shake.
The main reason, though? Pitcher Enrique Sosa.
After Florida State knocked Suarez for 12 runs, many Hurricanes fans wondered if Miami could muster a weekend with their next weekend starter. What they didn’t realize is that Sosa had been lights out at home: 4-0 with an ERA at 0.96.
The junior righty shunned his doubters by pitching six innings, allowing six hits and no runs.
“All my pitches were working,” Sosa said. “The defense behind me played really good, so that helps.”
Not only did the defense play great, but also the team stepped up offensively when it needed to. David Thompson, Garrett Kennedy, Willie Abreu and Zack Collins all went yard for the Canes.
George Iskenderian also had himself a career day, going 4-4 with an RBI triple.
After the game, Iskenderian mentioned that their team captain gave a pre-game speech to remind the team why they wear their uniforms.
“Bryan Garcia gave a speech before the game,” said the second baseman. “He told us, ‘Don’t forget the reason why you started playing. Go out there and have fun like you did in little league.’”
That pep talk seemed to work as Miami tacked on a run in each inning except the sixth and the eighth.
Florida State showed some signs of frustration after the lead was extended to 8-0.
After Abreu’s three-run blast to the Ponce de Leon Garage in right field, Seminoles pitcher Bryan Holtmann threw a pitch behind Kennedy, which issued warnings to both benches from the umpire.
“I wouldn’t have had a problem if they ejected him,” said Morris, who had to send some of the players who left the dugout back to their seats.
The “skirmish” ended quickly, and so did the game.
FSU poised no threat offensively through nine innings, and the Hurricanes cruised their way to their 31st win of the season.
The Canes (31-13, 16-8 ACC) are off this week due to exams, but will return to action against Pittsburgh Saturday in their final regular season road trip.