Miami Baseball: Canes season ends with 8-2 loss to Duke in semifinal

No. 17 nationally ranked Duke scored the last eight runs of the game, including a six-run eighth inning to run past the Miami Hurricanes for an 8-2 win in the second semifinals of the 2024 Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Championship at Truist Field in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Making their second straight ACC Baseball Championship semifinals appearance, the 11th-seeded Hurricanes fell to the sixth-seeded Duke Blue Devils, 8-2, at Truist Field.

Duke hit two two-run homers, including senior catcher Alex Stone’s go-ahead dinger.

Miami (27-30) held an early 2-0 lead, but the Hurricanes ran out of gas playing with a shorthanded bullpen.

The first base hit of the game was a big one, as Daniel Cuvet launched a two-run home run to right field to put the Hurricanes on top 2-0 midway through the fourth inning.

The third baseman set the new Miami freshman home run record with his 24th blast of the year. Cuvet’s two-run shot in the fourth pushed the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., native past Pat Burrell, breaking the 28-year mark.

Junior starter Herick Hernandez pitched five innings, holding the Blue Devils hitless through the first four frames. Hernandez struck out nine of the first 12 batters he faced before the Blue Devils plated a tally in the fifth.

Duke veteran righty Charlie Beilenson (7-3) picked up the win in relief, tossing 2 1/3 scoreless innings.

Miami freshman right-hander Nick Robert (5-4) was charged with the loss.

The Blue Devils reached the ACC title game for only the second time in program history and the first time since winning the title in 2021.

Duke, which didn’t pick up its first base hit until the bottom of the fifth inning, was led offensively by two base hits from Devon Obee, including a monster home run over the video board in left-center field. Both Obee and Alex Stone homered and drove in two RBI, while Zac Morris, Ben Miller and pinch-hitter Jimmy Evans each drove in one run in the win.

Following a one-hour and 21-minute delay to the start of the contest due to lightning concerns, both teams struggled offensively out of the gate, as neither team had a base hit until the fourth inning.

Duke picked up its first hit in the bottom of the fifth inning and took advantage of three free passes, including a bases-loaded walk to Morris to get on the scoreboard and cut the Miami lead to one at 2-1.

The Blue Devils struck again in the bottom of the seventh inning and tied the game up at 2-2 on a pinch-hit sacrifice fly from Evans.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Blue Devils blew the game wide open with a six spot to take an 8-2 lead, highlighted by a pair of two-run home runs from Stone and Obee to propel Duke to the win.

The Blue Devils (38-18) will play No. 5-seeded Florida State (42-14) in the title game on Saturday, May 26, at noon ET on ESPN2.

Miami Athletics and ACC Communications contributed to this report

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