Quiet Canes wake up with a vengeance, pound three consecutive home runs to win series
It seemed as if the Miami Hurricanes were taking a long, leisurely nap on a lazy Sunday afternoon at North Carolina State in Raleigh, when a massive alarm clock must have sounded in the sixth inning.
That’s when the Hurricanes, at that point down 3-0, sent 11 batters to the plate and pounded out five runs — fueled by three consecutive home runs by Anthony Vilar, Yohandy Morales and Adrian Del Castillo — for an eventual 6-4 victory.
Morales, a 6-3, 199-pound true freshman who leads Miami in hitting (.359), smacked another home run in the seventh for insurance. Morales, whose father Andy was a member of the Cuban National team and played in the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox organizations, is out of Miami Braddock High and was 3 for 4 Sunday.
UM (5-4, 3-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) began its sixth-inning home run fest with Vilar’s shot to right field that scored Jordan Lala, who had walked. The Canes continued with Morales’ solo blast to center and concluded with Del Castillo’s booming solo blast down the right-field line.
The Canes got their fifth run that inning when Lala was walked with bases loaded, his second at-bat in the frame.
N.C. State fell to 4-6 and 1-5.
Miami’s right-handed, second-year sophomore reliever Anthony Arguelles (3-0, 3.86 ERA) pitched 1 1/3 innings for the victory, with left-handed, second-year freshman closer Carson Palmquist (0.00) pitching two scoreless innings for his fourth save.
Left-handed Wolfpack reliever Chris Villaman (0-2) allowed two earned runs in two-thirds-of-an-inning for the loss.
UM starter Victor Mederos (0-0, 4.80 ERA), a right-handed true freshman, gave up three earned runs on seven hits and a walk in 4 2/3 innings. He threw two wild pitches and gave up a double and home run.
The Hurricanes, ranked as high as No. 1 in the nation after their opening weekend series win against the Florida Gators two weeks ago, came into the game ranked as high as No. 6 by Baseball America.
But after falling in two of three games to Virgina Tech a week ago, UM coach Gino DiMare knew his Hurricanes were struggling.
“We gotta start getting going and playing better baseball — consistent baseball,’’ DiMare said during a Zoom video conference going into the N.C. State series. “It is what it is. But you know, we’re fortunate that we’re ranked pretty well in a lot of the polls. We’re not playing like that right now. We’re not playing like a top-10 team.”
The Canes return to Mark Light Field for a 6 p.m. Tuesday game against FAU.
