Miami Gets Punched in the Mouth in Game One Against No. 5 Florida State
CORAL GABLES, Fla. — The War Chant rings throughout Mark Light on a windy Thursday night in Coral Gables as No. 5 Florida State (19-2, 4-0 ACC) dominates the Miami Hurricanes 14-1 in the opening game of the series.
The more the rose glasses start to fall off, this season is shaping up to be exactly like last year. The Hurricanes are failing to deliver against teams they are built to be competitive against. They got sucker punched against the Seminoles and the only message from coach J.D. Arteaga is to throw it away and move forward because the goal is still at hand.
"Our goal is still at hand," Arteaga said after the game. "We are set up to win the series. By no means if it was by one or 14, our goal is still in front of us and achievable but we got to play better. In all aspects of it. We have to hit better, we have to pitch better, we have to play better defense and we know that. We are not playing very good baseball right now and it is a very tough part of our schedule and that is a bad combination. We just have to."
It starts with the pitching and three weekends in a row sophomore starting pitcher Nick Robert has not been the same guy he was against Florida.
His issue continues to be struggling to get out when he is ahead in his counts. He will consistently have 0-2, or 1-2 counts, and a few noncompetitive pitches later it turns into a 3-2 out or a massive hit for the Seminoles. Robert finished the day playing 3.2 innings, allowing six hits and runs, with seven strikeouts.
Let’s also take into account that FSU is one of the best-hitting teams in the country. Their leading hitters Gage Harrelson and Alex Lodise are hitting above .410. Don’t mention the sleeping megastar in freshman Myles Bailey who is poised to terrorize the Canes all weekend.
Freshman Tate DeRias followed after and it was no better. After allowing more runs. The Canes went with Rob Evans and he allowed more runs.
If you look at the other side of the mound, FSU pitcher Joey Volini pitched a dominant game against the Canes. He only allowed two hits and one run thanks to the efforts of freshman Fabio Peralta but stood and threw like a pro from the opening pitch.
The Canes will look to strike back as they are still searching for their first ACC win of the season and will try to come back and get it done against the team
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Justice Sandle is a graduate of Mississippi State University and is the site lead for Miami Hurricanes on SI. He can be reached at justice.sandle111@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter@Justice_News5.
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Justice Sandle is a graduate of Mississippi State University earning a Bachelor of Arts and Science in Communications with a concentration in Print and Digital Journalism. During his time in Starkville, he spent a year as an intern working for Mississippi State On SI primarily covering basketball, football, baseball, and soccer while writing, recording, and creating multimedia stories during his tenor. Since graduating, he has assumed the role of lead staff writer for Miami Hurricanes On SI covering football, basketball, baseball, and all things Hurricanes related.