Miami baseball experienced their first losing series of the season after they went 1-2 last weekend against the Florida Gators. It seems that it could start becoming a trend as UM lost the first game of their series against the Connecticut Huskies on Friday, 7-2.
The first two innings were rather uneventful for both sides. Sophomore Nick Robert allowed no hits and struck three of the seven batters he faced. The ’Canes showed some signs of offense in the bottom of the first with back-to-back singles from redshirt junior Max Galvin and junior Jake Ogden, but neither materialized into a run.
The third inning was where things just fell apart for Miami, more specifically, for Robert. At first, it seemed like a routine inning for Robert, the first batter he faced flew out, he walked the second, and the third grounded out. Then, things for Robert fell apart quicker than the Falcons in Super Bowl LI. Over the next four batters, Robert gave up a single, double, and two walks. After this sequence of events, the score was now 2-0 and the bases were loaded. It seemed like things couldn’t get any worse for Robert, but it definitely did. UConn graduate student Sam Biller cleared the bases with a grand slam to increase their lead to 6-0. Robert finally stopped the bleeding by getting the final out on the next batter, but the damage had been done. In just one inning, Robert gave up three hits, one of which being a grand slam, three walks, and six runs. Going into the game, Robert had only given up four earned runs on the season. In just that one inning against UConn, he gave up two more than the rest of the season combined.
Robert never got the chance to redeem himself during his outing because his night ended the next inning, as he was replaced by freshman Tate DeRias. In less than four innings of play, Robert left the game with a pitch count of 87.
After Robert’s rough showing, the Hurricanes needed their batters to step up. The ’Canes got their first score of the game in the bottom of the fourth inning in the form of a single from senior Tanner Smith that brought in Ogden to score. That cut the Huskie lead to 6-1; however, the Miami offense did not produce much else.
The fifth and sixth innings showed no change to the score as the Hurricanes could not even manage to tally a hit. The only other run the ’Canes tallied for the remainder of the game came from a single by Galvin to bring in freshman Michael Torres in the seventh inning. However, the Huskies scored a run of their own in the top half of the inning, so the lead was still five, except now in the form of 7-2.
The final two innings provided no change in the final outcome with the only events that provoked interest in those innings. The first was that there were four pitching changes, one of which brought in UConn sophomore JT Caruso, who played for Miami last season. The other was how the UM student section showed energy till the end by chirping at Huskie players on the final plays as well as having fun dancing to the macarena while waiting during one of a seamlessly endless string of pitching changes.
The ’Canes ended their painful performance with a flyout from sophomore Daniel Cuvet. The 7-2 loss is their largest of the season so far. With the loss, the Hurricanes fall to 11-4.