Miami baseball consecutive shutouts for second time in 2019 to sweep Virginia Tech

The Miami baseball team had consecutive shutouts for the second time this season as they swept Virginia Tech over the weekend in Coral Gables.

The Miami baseball team’s sweep of Virginia Tech improved the Hurricanes to 31-14 overall and 14-10 in the ACC. Miami edges within a game of Georgia Tech and North Carolina for first place in the ACC Coastal Division. The Atlantic and Coastal Divison winners are automatically the top two seeds in the ACC Baseball Tournament in May.

The Miami baseball team began the weekend with a 4-3 victory over Virginia Tech on Friday night. The Hurricanes had to rally twice for the victory. Virginia Tech took a 2-0 lead in the top of the second inning. The Hurricanes equaled the Hokies an inning later.

A Willie Escala double drove in Tony Jenkins to get Miami on the board. That was followed with an Adrian DelCastillo sacrifice fly to drive in Escala and tie the Hokies at two. Virginia Tech regained the lead when Miami native Michael Fernandez had an RBI single in the sixth inning. The scored stayed that way until the eighth.

A Gabe Rivera single with the bases loaded plated DelCastillo and Anthony Vilar with one out. Danny Federman pitched two innings to improve to 2-3 on the season. Greg Veliz pitched the ninth inning and struck out two to record his sixth save of 2019. Six Hurricanes had one hit each in the victory.

Saturday’s game was sloppy and Miami was fortunate to prevail. An Alex Toral sacrifice fly in the second inning scoring J.P. Gates was the only run of the game. It was the only offense Brian VanBelle and Veliz needed in the win. VanBelle was two outs shy of a complete game.

VanBelle allowed four hits and two walks with eight strikeouts in 8.2 innings to improve to 6-2 this season. Veliz got the final two outs for his seventh save. Miami missed out on an insurance run in the eighth when Michael Amditis was thrown out at second base to end the inning after a Toral fly ball.

The Hurricanes offense improved slightly on Sunday. A DelCastillo two-run home run in the fourth inning was all the offense the Hurricanes could muster in the 2-0 victory over the Hokies. Four Hurricanes pitchers teamed for the shutout. Taylor Keysor started and pitched 4.2 innings to improve to 5-0 in 2019.

Keysor allowed three hits and struck out seven without any walks. Mark Mixon and Gates each pitched two-thirds of an inning before Danny Federman pitched the final three for his seventh save. Federman allowed a hit and a walk with four strikeouts for the victory. This might have been Miami’s most important series of 2019.

The Hurricanes totaled seven runs and were still able to win all three games. It also came with their top two pitchers, Evan McKendry and Chris McMahon out with injuries. McMahon missed his second straight start. McKendry exited his start against Louisville last Thursday after one inning.

Miami proved it can win when their potent bats are mostly silent. The Hurricanes are off until next weekend when they host Bethune-Cookman in a three-game series. They resume ACC play in two weeks against Wake Forest.