Miami Hurricanes Baseball: Hurricanes Beat UCF 8-4 to Claim 11th Straight Win

The way the No.1 Miami Hurricanes are playing right now, they don’t need too much help from their opponents. On Wednesday night at Mark Light Field, the UCF Knights gave the red-hot Canes their fare share of assistance, especially on the mound.

UFC pitchers uncorked 14 walks, seven wild pitches and hit two Miami batters as the Hurricanes won their 11th straight game with a 8-4 victory.

After a four-hour drive from Orlando, the Knights looked like a team weary from the road from the first pitch of the game. Miami Starter Jesse Lepore needed just two minutes and six pitches to get through the top of the first and in the bottom half of the inning, UCF starter Bryce Tucker began a horrific string of outings from the Knights pitching staff. After allowing a one-out single to Chris Barr, Tucker surprisingly struck out Zack Collins, but followed with three straight walks to bring in Barr with the bases loaded and give Miami a 1-0 lead.

While the Hurricanes could not capitalize on a bases-loaded opportunity in the second, the wheels completely fell off for UCF in the third. With the Knights already through two pitchers, reliever Thaddeus Ward entered the game and to put it nicely, the freshman righthander struggled. Ward walked four, hit two batters and unleashed a wild pitch, all of which contributed to a five-run third where Miami only had one hit and the Canes took a 6-0 lead.

On the hill for Miami, Lepore was brilliant as he kept the Knights hitless through four innings and gave up just one run in the fifth on a Anthony George RBI double. The Canes got a run of the own in the bottom half with another UCF wild pitch and Lepore finished up a solid six-inning outing allowing just two hits and one walk while striking out six.

“Obviously I need to eliminate the walks, but I settled in early on and just battled late and I just feel I’m getting more and more comfortable after each start,” Lepore said after his outing.

The Hurricanes were in complete control until the eighth when reliever Frankie Bartow caught the walking bug himself and just could not get past any of the UCF hitters. The Knights got three runs in the inning to cut the Miami lead to 7-4, but Bryan Garcia put out the fire to keep the Canes comfortably ahead.

“You to have one if you want be good,” Coach Jim Morris said when asked about the importance of Bryan Garcia at the backend of the bullpen. “Garcia is one of those guys that asked, ‘Can I close?’ and he wants that role and he loves going out there with the game on the line and that’s special.”

Randy Batista laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt in the bottom of the eighth to put the Hurricanes ahead 8-4 and Miami’s masterful closer picked up his tenth save of the season.

The UCF pitching performance overshadowed a solid UM performance, but their awful showing was the story from the night. The eight Knights that took the hill Wednesday night finished with 14 walks, seven wild pitches and also hit two batters. Still with that mediocrity, nothing can be taken away from the Canes who now have won 11th straight and sit at 27-4 on the year.

The Hurricanes are playing phenomenal baseball right now and when their opponents pitch the way UCF did tonight, there is no way Miami can lose.