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Baseball
Hurricanes Take Series Opener in Extras
March 23, 2018
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Miami (10-11, 4-3 ACC) produced a walk-off, bases loaded single in the bottom of the 11th inning to take the series opener from No. 24 Virginia (13-8, 3-4 ACC) at Alex Rodriguez Park.
Raymond Gil delivered the game-winning hit with no outs in the bottom of the 11th inning. The first three Hurricane batters of the frame reached base and Gil drove a pitch into the right center field gap for the walk-off victory.
The Virginia defense helped starting pitcher Derek Casey (Mechanicsville, Va.) and reliever Andrew Abbott (Halifax, Va.) limit Miami to just two earned runs over 10 innings of work. The Cavaliers turned a season-high three double plays, including an inning-ending twin-killing in the bottom of the 10th.
In the bottom of the seventh, a relay throw from left fielder Christian Hlinka (Frenchtown, N.J.) was cut-off by Justin Novak (Tokyo, Japan) and fired over to Tanner Morris (Crozet, Va.) covering third base to cut down the potential go-ahead run.
Casey produced his third quality start of the season, allowing just two runs over seven innings of work. Despite allowing nine-hits, he did not walk a batter for the second time in his last three starts. He’s issued only two free passes in his last 21.2 innings pitched. Casey struck out six batters and lowered his season ERA to 3.83.
Initially trailing, 2-0, Virginia tied the game up in the top of the sixth. Nate Eikhoff (Bristow, Va.) and freshman Alex Tappen strung together, back-to-back, runs-scoring hits with two outs to even the game.
Miami starting pitcher Jeb Bargfeldt pitched into the eighth inning and limited Virginia to just six hits over the first 7.2 innings. Bargfeldt faced the minimum over the first three innings and had his no-hit bid squashed in the fifth when Cameron Comer (Powell, Ohio) singled to right center field.
The middle game of a three-game series is scheduled for Saturday (March 24) at 7 p.m. The Cavaliers will have left-hander Daniel Lynch (2-2) on the mound and he’ll be opposed by Evan McKendry (3-2).
Additional Notes
– The Cavliers drop to 2-2 in extra inning contests this season and have played past the ninth in the last two games.
– Virginia now has turned 13 double plays this season.
– Making his first start in left field, Hlinka made one putout and recorded the Cavaliers fourth outfield assist of 2018.
– Eikhoff extended his hit streak to 16 games and has now reached base in all 21 games this season. He is one of nine Cavaliers since 2000 to put together a hit streak of 16 games or longer.
– Abbott has finished the last three games for Virginia and is 1-1 with a save in those contests.
– Knight was hit by his 10th pitch in Friday’s game and has reached base safely in 20 of the 21 games this season.
– Morris drew two of the Cavaliers three walks in the contest and finished the night, 1-for-3 with a run scored.