Miami baseball splits week, ACC Tournament next

The Miami baseball team defeated FIU 6-5 in their midweek game on Tuesday before losing two out of three versus Pittsburgh this weekend. The teams split a pair of 5-3 games before Pittsburgh clinched a series win with a 10-7 victory on Saturday. Miami finished the regular season 25-29 overall and 11-19 in the ACC.

Miami had its first losing season in the ACC since finishing 14-16 in 2013. Baring a miracle postseason run will have their first losing season overall since finishing 11-12 in 1957. The 1957 Miami baseball team was led by Baseball Hall of Famer Jimmie Foxx as head coach.

After a scoreless game through three innings in the series finale on Saturday both offenses exploded over the final six innings. Pittsburgh scored two in the fourth inning and one in the fifth to take the lead. Miami rallied to tie the score with three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Pittsburgh took the lead for good with three runs in the top of the top of the seventh. After Miami scored one in the bottom of the seventh, Pittsburgh put the game away with a four run eighth. Miami scored three in the bottom of the ninth inning to make the final score more respectable.

Daniel Cuvet had two hits, three runs batted in and his 21st home run of the season. Cuvet is four HRs away from the Miami single-season record set by Phil Lane in 1982. J.D. Urso was the other Hurricane with two hits and he scored three runs. Miami used a bullpen day to set its rotation for the ACC Tournament.

Miami received great pitching to win the opening game of the series versus Pittsburgh on Thursday and clinch a berth in the ACC Tournament. Gage Ziehl pitched seven innings allowing, three earned runs, with one walk and six strikeouts in seven innings. Myles Caba struck out six in two innings for his first save.

Pittsburgh evened the series with a three run second to take the lead on Friday. The Panthers stretched their lead to 5-1 in the fourth and never trailed. Jake Sokol dominated Miami allowing one run on four hits, with three walks and seven strikeouts in six innings to improve to 7-3 this season.

Miami rallied late to defeat FIU. The Hurricanes scored one run in the sixth inning, two in the seventh and one in the eighth to earn the 6-5 win. Miami opened the scoring with a two run top of the first before FIU surged in front. FIU scored two in the eighth but was unable to tie the game.

The ACC has not announced the schedule for the conference tournament that begins on Tuesday. The 12 teams are set. Miami will be the 11th seed and play in the same pool with Clemson who won the Atlantic Divison to earn the second overall seed and the seventh seed which is still to be determined.