Miami Avoids the Sweep in Win Over Florida State

The Miami Hurricanes uncorked three home runs in the seventh and eighth innings to win 7-4 over Florida State at Dick Howser Stadium on Saturday.

With the win, the Hurricanes (36-17, 16-14) successfully avoid ending the regular season having been swept by their arch rivals. 

This matchup is one of the most heated rivalries in all of college sports, and the home team typically had the advantage. Coming into the series finale, the Seminoles (38-16, 19-11 in ACC) had won 90 percent of their games (27-3) played at Dick Howser Stadium this season. It was a place where opposing teams’ dreams of baseball glory had come to die, until it wasn’t. 

Florida State pitcher Bryson Moore held the Hurricanes scoreless for the first six innings until a two-run home run by Miami’s Gabriel Milano gave the Hurricanes a 2-1 lead in the seventh inning.

Moore was pulled and replaced by reliever Chris Knier. As one of the top relievers on the team, Knier had allowed only one home run in his last 15 innings.

Knier allowed his second and third home runs in the eighth inning, courtesy of Derek Williams and Alex Sosa, to gave Miami some insurance runs and a 4-1 lead.

That lone run for the Seminoles came on a solo home run by catcher Nathan Cmeyla in the second inning, as he went 3-for-3 on the day. Brody DeLamielleure extended his hitting streak to 17 games, and was 2-for-3 with a double in the game.

The Seminoles then mounted a rally in the bottom of the eighth. With runners on second and third, designated hitter Hunter Carns got his first hit of the game, an RBI single to left field to score Brayden Dowd to cut the deficit to 4-2. Florida State had runners at the corners and one out as Cmeyla stood in at the plate.

Cmeyla hit a sacrifice fly ball to the warning track in deep center field to score DeLamielleure to make the score 4-3 in favor of the Hurricanes as they headed to the ninth inning.

The Hurricanes added two more runs in their half of the ninth to increase their lead to 7-3. Miami collected 12 hits in the game.

Florida State’s Noah Sheffield blasted a home run over the left field wall to get a run back to cut the lead to 7-4 in the bottom of the ninth. Down to the last at-bat, left fielder John Stuetzer went down on strikes to end the game.  

Florida State was projected as the No. 3 seed in next week’s ACC baseball tournament. With the loss today, it remains to be seen if that ranking holds true when the bracket is officially announced.

A top four ranking would give the Seminoles a bye, and they would await their opponent in the quarterfinals. A deep run in the conference tournament for the Seminoles would have implications on their potential seeding in the NCAA tournament. 

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