Catcher Carlos Perez propelled Miami to a dominant 6-0 win at Mark Light Field Saturday night against Dartmouth. This is Miami’s sixth straight win after losing its first game of the season against Penn State.
Perez, who only had a .191 batting average last season, hit a career-best 3-fo-3 with a single, a triple and his second home run of the season. He was only a double short of hitting the cycle. The hits now place his batting average at .500 this season.
“It felt great man, I really wanted that cycle but it still felt great to do what I did,” Perez said.
The Hurricanes had 12 hits on the evening and hit the ball when runners were in scoring position on numerous occasions.
Half of Miami’s run total came from a 3-run homer in the second inning by sophomore Dorian Gonzalez Jr., which was his first home run of the season.
Dartmouth struggled offensively against the ‘Canes, generating only six hits.
Its hitting troubles were due in part to the elite pitching performance that starter Karson Ligon had. In the seven innings and 97 pitches he threw, the sophomore only gave up four hits and struck out six batters. His ERA is now 0.44 for the entire season.
“The pitching was fantastic,” Miami head coach Gino DiMare said. “Our starters are able to pitch about 100 pitches, and for him to do it helped us to save the bullpen.”
Even with the performance that he did have, Ligon is only thinking about the next time he gets on the mound.
“I want to be even better next weekend against Florida,” Ligon said. “It’s important for me to get better as the season goes on.”
Ligon is now 2-0 on the season.
Although it committed one error early on, UM’s outfield did great work in catching some difficult fly balls, and its infield gathered and got the out almost every time.
The Hurricanes will look to sweep the series against Dartmouth at 1 p.m. on Sunday at Mark Light Field.