Lopsided loss leaves Miami Hurricanes' baseball season on the brink vs. Southern Miss

Miami Herald

4 days ago

Disaster struck quickly on Sunday night for the Miami Hurricanes baseball team.
Freshman starter Tate DeRias could not survive the first inning, allowing a shocking nine runs on seven hits, one walk and one hit by pitch.
Miami never recovered.
Host and top-seeded Southern Miss rolled to a 17-6 win over the third-seeded Hurricanes.
'It's not how you draw it up,' Miami coach J.D. Arteaga said of the nine-run barrage. 'It's tough to come back from that.
'We were in a tough spot. They had to beat us twice, and we had to make pitching decisions on who to use and who not to use.
'(DeRias' velocity) was fine. His location – the pitches were down, but they were in the middle of the plate. We were hoping (Southern Miss) would hit the ball right at somebody, but it didn't happen.'
The good news for the Hurricanes is that they had played their way through the winner's bracket of this four-team, double-elimination tournament by beating Alabama and Columbia earlier in the regional.
Therefore, Miami (33-25) and Southern Miss (47-15) will meet again on Monday night (9 p.m. Eastern). The winner advances to the super regionals. The loser packs it up as their season is over.
Sunday's result was shocking because DeRias had been so good as a freshman this season, entering this game with a 3.98 ERA.
However, he got just two outs on Sunday – and one of them took a video-review overturn that caught a Southern Miss player running out of the base-path to avoid a tag.
Other than that, DeRias allowed a single on the game's first pitch, then got the video-review-assisted out before allowing a walk and an RBI single to Matthew Russo.
DeRias then got a ground ball, but Miami couldn't turn the double play on the slow roller, and then the proverbial floodgates opened wide.
There were RBI singles by Ben Higdon, Seth Smith and Jake Cook and a two-run single by Carson Paetow to make it 6-0.
At any point in there, Arteaga could've justifiably removed DeRias, but he resisted the urge.
'The last thing you want is to take your starter out in the first inning,' Arteaga said. 'You don't want to be too quick and go through your whole staff.'
As it turned out, Arteaga yanked DeRias one batter later as Joey Urban – a South Floridan from Jupiter -- jacked a three-run homer.
Reliever Jake Dorn came in and retired the next batter, but that 35-minute half-inning put Miami's season on the brink.
Meanwhile, DeRias' ERA went up by nearly two runs, to 5.86, and that type of statistical movement is rarely seen for a starting pitcher this late in the season. But that's how bad things were for Miami on Sunday.
The Hurricanes, to their credit, scored one run in the second on a Tanner Smith homer, and Miami closed its deficit to 10-5 with a four-run fifth inning. An RBI single by Michael Torres and Jake Ogden's two-run double were the highlights of Miami's best rally of the night.
But that was as close as Miami got the rest of the way.
The only other good news on the night for Miami was the fact that Arteaga was able to save his most trusted relievers – Brian Walters and Carson Fischer – for Monday's game. They both should be able to pitch a couple innings as needed.
Also, Hurricanes starters AJ Ciscar and Griffin Hugus – who were pitching stars on Friday and Saturday, respectively -- might be able to give Miami a couple of outs if it means keeping its season alive.
'It's a must-win,' Arteaga said. 'All hands on deck. There's no script for a one-game playoff. We will pick a starter, and if he is getting outs, he will stay out there.'
Third baseman Daniel Cuvet, who is Miami's best hitter, is confident the Hurricanes can survive and advance.
'I have a lot of faith in our team,' he said. 'We've been able to bounce back all year. It's just a feeling we have in our locker-room.'
Added Arteaga: 'We are 0-0 every morning when we wake up. We only look back to learn, and we only look forward to prepare.
'All that matters is the present.'