Miami baseball sweeps Virginia moving winning streak to 13 games

The Miami baseball team swept Virginia after mid-week wins over Florida Gulf Coast and FIU to improve their winning streak to 13 games. Miami has swept three straight ACC series. The Hurricanes are 26-6 overall and 13-2 in the ACC. Virginia is second in the ACC Coastal at 26-6, 9-6.

Virginia entered the weekend as the number three team nationally and Miami was eighth. The Hurricanes made a statement at home. Miami has separated itself from the rest of the ACC. Louisville and Notre Dame are the closest teams to Miami in the ACC Standings with 8-4 records.

Miami began the weekend with a 6-2 win over the Cavaliers on Friday night. That was followed up with a 5-4 victory on Saturday with the lead changing a few times. After Virginia scored the first three runs on Sunday, Miami followed up with five runs in the third inning and six in the fourth to take control of the game.

Miami began the week with a 5-2 win over Florida Gulf Coast on Tuesday and a 17-1 crushing of FIU on Wednesday. The Hurricanes used a balanced lineup and five innings without a hit, walk, or a run from its bullpen to beat Florida Gulf Coast. A slaughter rule would have been in effect against FIU.

Miami scored one run in the first inning, eight in the second, two in the third and four in the fourth to lead 15-0 after four innings. FIU scored its lone run in the eighth before Miami closed the scoring with two in the bottom of the inning to finish the scoring. Three Hurricanes had at least four RBIs.

C.J. Kayfus and Dominic Pitelli each drove in four and Edgardo Villegas had five RBIs against the Panthers. Jake Garland picked eight innings, allowing six runs, one earned run with one walk and six strikeouts for his fifth win against one loss this season. Carson Palmquist had his seventh dominant start of 2021 on Friday.

Palmquist pitched six innings without allowing an earned run on two hits with three walks and eight strikeouts. Seven of the eight outings for Palmquist this season have been quality starts. Miami once again had balance throughout the lineup with seven players getting hits. Miami trailed 2-0 and earned the comeback win.

Alejandro Rosario started on Sunday and lasted four innings allowing seven hits, three runs, all earned, with five walks and two strikeouts. Four Hurricanes had multiple-hit games on Sunday. Villegas hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the third inning to put Miami up 4-3. Miami piled on after that.

Virginia scored a run the top of the sixth and Miami tripled that in the bottom of the inning. Each team scored once more as Miami won 15-5. Miami scored runs off of four Cavaliers pitchers on Sunday. This week Miami hosts FAU on Tuesday before a three-game series next weekend at Virginia Tech.