Miami baseball eliminated from ACC Tournament by Duke walkoff
The Miami baseball team was eliminated from the ACC Tournament with a 3-2 loss to Duke in their first game in Charlotte on Thursday. After the Hurricanes took a 2-0 in the top of the sixth Blue Devils catcher Michael Rothenberg singled home two runs to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh.
A Rothenberg home run with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning sent Duke to the ACC semifinals on Saturday. The game between Duke and Miami was set up for a winner take all game in Pool D by the Blue Devils 12-1 victory over the Seminoles on Wednesday. Miami and Florida State will play on Friday.
The game is now meaningless after Duke defeated Miami and Florida State. Miami will hope to avoid a four-game season sweep by Florida State on Friday. The Seminoles crushed the Hurricanes in a three-game sweep in Coral Gables this season. Florida State outscored Miami 34-2 in the three games.
Rothenberg was all the offense that Duke needed on Thursday. The Blue Devils backstop had two hits in four at-bats with three RBIs. Right fielder Peter Matt was two for four and scored the game-tying run. The Blue Devils finished with seven hits to move on through to the ACC Tournament semifinals as the ninth seed.
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All-ACC and freshman team pitcher Carson Palmquist allowed the game-winning home run to Rothenberg. Palmquist pitched 1.1 innings allowing the one hit and run with one strikeout. Palmquist’s ERA ballooned from 1.38 to 1.73 after allowing the HR. Entering the NCAA Tournament Palmquist has 13 saves.
Miami will now wait until Monday when the NCAA Tournament pairings are released. The Hurricanes know they will be on the road after Coral Gables was not selected to host regional. Miami is projected to be the second seed in the Gainesville Regional according to Baseball America.
Next. Miami baseball will not host NCAA Tournament regional. dark
Miami won two out of three at preseason number one Florida to begin the season. The Hurricanes will enter the NCAA Tournament 32-18. Miami is 19th in the RPI on NCAA.Com. Florida is one spot ahead of Miami in the RPI. Only Notre Dame has a high RPI than Miami. The Hurricanes finished fourth in the ACC regular-season standings.