Having won 11 in a row coming into their series with Duke, the No. 1 Miami Hurricanes looked to keep their impressive streak alive and stay atop the national polls with a solid series in Durham, NC.
Game One Recap: Miami 14 Duke 2
The Canes started off their three-game set in Durham with a bang as they dominated the Blue Devils on their way to a 14-2 victory.
Lefthander Thomas Woodrey (4-2) continued his solid string of outings as he went six innings allowing just one earned run on six hits and three walks. While Miami’s No. 1 looked good, the UM bats exploded with Johnny Ruiz and Willie Abreu in particular leading the way. The junior second baseman reached an astounding six times on the night and while he went just 2-for-2, he finished with four walks and four RBI to give him 29 on the season. While he did not come into the year with the highest of expectations, Ruiz finished Friday night hitting .342 with those 29 RBI second only to Zack Collins on the Miami squad.
Abreu’s night was not too shabby either as he went 3-for-5 on the night with three RBI. The junior right fielder has not started the 2016 season the way he wanted with just a .261 average, but his heroics earlier this year, his fantastic defense and nights like these show why he is such a valuable member to this Miami team.
The Canes led 7-2 heading into the ninth and added more than insurance as they put up a seven spot to all but lock up the victory. Isaiah Musa finished the game off with a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth and the Hurricanes won their 12th straight with a 14-2 victory.
Game Two Recap: Duke 12 Miami 5
After dominating every facet of the game on Friday night, the Blue Devils flipped the script on the Canes in game two of the series as Miami fell 12-5. The defeat snapped the Hurricanes 12-game win streak.
Sophomore Michael Mediavilla (6-1) was not his usual self as he allowed eight hits and eight earned runs in 1.2 innings and took his first loss of the season. The Miami bullpen was not much better as they allowed four runs and eight hits of their own the rest of the way to give the Blue Devils 12 runs and 16 hits overall on the night.
While the pitching certainly cost the Canes, their hitting was not much better. Miami managed only three hits and would not have had anything to show if it weren’t for the magnificent performance from Willie Abreu. The junior carried the momentum over from game one as he went 2-for-4 with five RBI, including a three-run home run to right-center in the sixth.
Even with Abreu’s brilliant performance, he got no help from the rest of the Miami lineup and Duke finished off the 12-5 victory to setup a rubber game on Sunday afternoon.
Game Three Recap: Miami 9 Duke 0
In search of their seventh straight series victory, the Hurricanes played an almost flawless game on Sunday afternoon as they defeated the Blue Devils 9-0 to likely stay atop the national polls.
Junior Danny Garcia had one of his best outings of the season despite giving up eight hits to Duke. The southpaw did not give up a run in seven innings and struck out three as he gave the Canes exactly the outing they needed after Saturday night.
The bats finally woke back up for the Canes as they struck for four in the third behind a three-run home run for Zack Collins to right-center. The Miami catcher only went 1-for-4 on the day, but still sits with a .410 average, eight home runs and 39 RBI. In his first two years in Coral Gables, we had seen Collins struggle at the beginning of the year and finish on a tear over the last few months of the season. We had wondered what kind of stats we would see if he put together a full year and the 2016 season is showing exactly what that would look like so far.
Brandon Lopez had a nice game going 2-for-5 with two RBI and Frankie Bartow and Bryan Garcia finally got some work as they each pitched a scoreless inning to close out the 9-0 victory and the series victory.
The No. 1 Miami Hurricanes will likely stay on their lofty perch this week as they sit at 29-5 overall and 13-3 in the ACC. They will face a tougher test next week though as they host FAU in the midweek and then welcome in the Virginia Cavaliers for three games next weekend.