Baseball rallies late for 6-4 win, evens series at NC State
RALEIGH, N.C. – The Miami Hurricanes were in a familiar situation Saturday and a familiar name helped the Canes take the lead for good inside Doak Field at Dail Park.
Christian Del Castillo’s RBI groundout in the top of the eighth gave Miami (4-4, 2-3 ACC) its third and final lead of the day, helping the Hurricanes even the series at NC State (4-5, 1-4 ACC) with a 6-4 victory.
With the game tied at 4, Yohandy Morales led off the top of the eighth with a ground-rule double to right. The true freshman advanced to third on a wild pitch and Miami had runners at the corners when lefty Canaan Smith walked Alex Toral with one out in the inning.
After an incredible play by first baseman Austin Murr to retire Del Castillo, Morales evaded the tag at the plate to snap the stalemate and out Miami ahead, 5-4.
Miami turned to closer Carson Palmquist to protect the one-run lead and the lefty pitched out of a jam, stranding a pair of base runners after snaring a J.T. Jarrett line drive up the middle to end the eighth.
“I’m just going out there and being confident and believing in myself and the eight other guys on the field with me,” Palmquist said. “It was a huge win for us. We were down bad yesterday and this team battled back We never call it quits and that showed today.”
True freshman CJ Kayfus picked a great time to get his first career hit, smoking a leadoff solo homer to left-center off Wolfpack reliever Dalton Feeney that gave the Hurricanes some breathing room, 6-4, and Palmquist retired the side in order to earn his third save of the season.
“I was trying to stay within myself and let everything happen on its own,” Kayfus said. “I was planning on attacking early on in the at-bat, so I got excited seeing the first pitch fastball. After hitting it I thought, ‘This might have a chance to get out’ and it did.”
Much like Friday’s series opener, Jordan Lala led off the game with a hit-by-pitch and came around to score to get the Hurricanes on the scoreboard in the first inning for the sixth consecutive game. After Lala scored on a Morales groundout, Adrian Del Castillo had an RBI single to right that sent home Anthony Vilar to make it 2-0 in favor of the Hurricanes.
The Wolfpack answered quickly, with Murr doubling down the first base line and Tyler McDonough following with a two-run blast on the third pitch of the game that evened the score at 2 apiece.
But Miami starter Alejandro Rosario settled in after McDonough’s homer, putting up three consecutive zeroes to give the Canes a chance to get its bats going.
The Hurricanes got their starter some more run support with a two-out rally in the top of the fifth. Freshman Dominic Pitelli started it all with a base hit up the middle, while Lala and Vilar followed with back-to-back RBI doubles to put Miami back ahead, 4-2, and end NC State starter Sam Highfill’s afternoon after 4.2 innings pitched.
NC State scratched a run across with two outs in the bottom of the fifth, as Vojtech Mensik stole second and scored on a base hit to the left side by McDonough that put the Wolfpack within one.
Rosario held NC State to three runs on five hits over five innings, striking out five Wolfpack hitters and walking two before he was replaced on the mound by fellow right-hander Jake Smith in the sixth.
Miami appeared to turn an inning-ending double play in the sixth, but replay review overturned the call as Pitelli appeared off the bag at second when he caught the feed from Vilar. The miscue proved pivotal, as Jarrett ripped a game-tying RBI single to left that pushed home Jonny Butler that squared the score at 4.
Anthony Arguelles pitched a scoreless seventh inning for the Canes, facing just three batters to earn his second win of the season.
Miami and NC State will close out the weekend series Sunday, beginning at 1 p.m. True freshman Victor Mederos will make his third collegiate start for the Canes.