MIAMI, FL – The last 10 times the Panthers have taken on the Miami Hurricanes in baseball, the Canes have come away victorious. In 2023, the Panthers lost all four against the Hurricanes but it finally felt as if these two teams kept it close, with no clear winner.
The first two matchups between these teams were close. At FIU, it was a tie game at three apiece entering the top of the ninth where the Hurricanes went on to score four runs, giving them a 7-3 win. The second time around at Mark Light, the Panthers were walked off, losing 6-5. In that second game, FIU held a 5-3 win but just couldn’t hold onto it.
In the last two games of the spread-out four-game set, the Panthers were run-ruled at Mark Light and then lost 17-3 at FIU.
FIU is catching the Hurricanes at a bad time this season as they are coming off of a series win against North Carolina. Run-ruling them in the first game and walking them off in the second game, the Canes were run-ruled in the Sunday game.
This season, the Miami Hurricanes are 11-8 and 4-2 in the conference.
This season, the Canes are led by Jason Torres and Daniel Cuvet. Torres this season is slashing .449/.494/.821/1.315 with eight home runs and 24 RBIs.
Freshman Cuvet has arrived on the scene and slashed .395/.535/.829/1.318 with a team-leading nine home runs and 26 RBIs.
Familiar faces on the position player side include Lorenzo Carrier who stands at 6’5″, 228 pounds, and has slashed .326/.478/.628/1.110 with three home runs and 11 RBIs.
Freshman All-American Blake Cyr has gotten off to a strong start this season slashing .310/.390/.690/1.098. Cyr has already notched ACC Player of the Week honors this season.
Although the position player side saw some changes, the biggest change was the pitching staff. Although the Panthers won’t see a weekend starter, FIU will still see some strong arms out of the pen.
Options that can go for the Canes can go with on Tuesday are Braydon Gray who had a strong start against Stonehill and then Ashton Crowther who started against Florida Atlantic.
For the Panthers, Jeff Liquori had a strong series against The Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders, going 5-12 with five RBIs and one home run.
Liquori started the season hitting second for the Panthers, forming what was a lethal top-of-the-order, but manager Rich Witten moved Liquori down to sixth in the order and he has found success there.
This weekend, offense was the name of the game for the Panthers.
In game two of the three-game set, the Panthers were down 5-3 and an eight-run bottom of the seventh inning was more than enough for the Panthers to take game two. Then, after going down 6-0, the Panthers scored 16 unanswered runs between three innings, leading to the first Conference USA run-rule of the season.
In all likelihood, the starter for the Panthers will be freshman Evan Alwine who was the starting pitcher against the FGCU Eagles on Wednesday. Other options include freshman Tristan Dietrich and experienced pitcher Richie Peña.
The game will be at Mark Light Field in Coral Gables and the first pitch is scheduled for 6 pm. The game will be on the ACC Sports Network.
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