The Miami Hurricanes have been nearly unbeatable at home this season. They held an 18-3 record at Mark Light field heading into Tuesday night’s matchup against the Bethune Cookman Wildcats.
That home-field advantage continued for Miami as it defeated Bethune-Cookman, 12-6, off the back of an outstanding hitting performance. The Hurricanes slugged 14 hits and four homers, as they comfortably won by six runs.
Right-hander Ben Chestnutt got the win for the Hurricanes, pitching 5.1 innings and only allowing one earned run. Louis Lipthratt was credited with the loss for the Wildcats, as he allowed four earned runs over two innings.
Miami’s lineup was led by third baseman Yohandy Morales, who had three hits, including a home run and two RBIs. The Wildcats were headed by catcher Jorge Braceras, who hit three doubles and drove in a run.
The long ball made the difference for UM, with five of its 12 runs coming off home runs. Miami was outhit by two, but the ‘Canes out-homered Bethune-Cookman, 4-0.
“If you got nine guys in the lineup that are tough to pitch to, that makes it taxing for a pitcher,” head coach Gino DiMare said. “The more guys you can have in the lineup to do that, the harder it’s gonna be for the pitcher.”
Miami’s fast start and Chestnutt’s quality start propelled them to a 10-0 lead by the fifth inning, which Bethune-Cookman was never able to recover from. Still, the Wildcats battled hard, scoring six runs in the final four innings, partly due to some sloppy pitching and play in the field by the Hurricanes.
“We swung the bat so well, scored nine runs in two innings, so that helped give us a big cushion and allowed us to make mistakes,” DiMare said, “But I don’t like the way we played the second half of the game. We need to play a more complete game whether it’s a one-run game or a 10-run game.”
The Hurricanes got production from all parts of the lineup as eight Miami batters recorded a hit on the night.
Designated hitter Ian Farrow got the scoring started for the ‘Canes, lining a triple into right-center field that brought in two runs in the bottom of the second. Farrow was immediately followed up by catcher Carlos Perez, who knocked a two-run homer over the left-field wall. The Hurricanes then went back-to-back as right fielder Lorenzo Carrier launched a solo shot over the same wall, making it a 5-0 game after only two innings.
Miami added another run to its lead with Morales leading off the bottom of the third inning with a solo home run, his seventh homer of the season. Later in the same inning, Carrier came up big yet again, as his bases-clearing double made it a 9-0 ballgame.
Chestnutt faced trouble in the top of the fourth as he loaded the bases, but a groundout got him out of the jam and kept the Wildcats scoreless.
In the bottom of the fifth, second baseman Blake Cyr hit a solo homer to bring the lead up to 10-0 in favor of the ‘Canes. Bethune-Cookman got on the board as a groundout by Braceras drove in a run despite an excellent play by Cyr at second base.
The Wildcats scored twice in the top of the seventh off a double play, which brought a runner in from third base. The Hurricanes quickly responded in the bottom half of the inning with Farrow hitting a deep sacrifice fly to right field to bring in another run.
Still, Bethune-Cookman did not go away, as it totaled two runs in the eighth off of a wild pitch and a single by center fielder Malik Stephens, cutting the deficit to 11-5.
Each team totaled one more run from that point to close out the high-scoring affair.
Miami will now go on the road again to take on the Florida Atlantic Owls on Wednesday. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. in Boca Raton, Florida.