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Miami opens ACC Championship play with 11th straight win

DURHAM, N.C. (theACC.com) – Miami grew used to winning over the final three weeks of the regular season. It took a while, but the Hurricanes kept the momentum going in Tuesday night’s Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Championship nightcap.

Trailing 11th-seeded Notre Dame by a run entering the bottom of the eighth inning, Miami awakened to put five runs on the board and rallied past the Fighting Irish for a 6-2 win at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

The seventh-seeded Hurricanes (28-25) won for the 11th consecutive game, the second-longest current streak in NCAA Division I. Miami, playing its final season under legendary head coach Jim Morris, has not lost since dropping the second game of a three-game series at Florida State on April 28.  

After Notre Dame reliever Andrew Belcik opened the bottom of eighth by hitting Tony Jenkins with a pitch and issuing a walk to Romy Gonzalez, Hurricanes’ cleanup hitter Danny Reyes lined a run-scoring double to right-center.

Reyes’ hit tied the score at 2-2 and opened the gate for four more Miami runs. Michael Burns and Raymond Gil followed with run-scoring base hits, and Freddy Zamora capped the flurry with a bases-loaded, two-run single for the final 6-2 margin.

Frankie Bartow (5-0), who came on in relief of starter Andrew Cabezas with one out in the top of the eighth, picked up the win on the mound for Miami. Belcik (2-3) took the loss. Notre Dame starter Scott Tully wound up with a no-decision after allowing five hits and one run through the first six innings.

No. 9 hitter Willy Escala finished 3-for-3 at the plate and drove in the Hurricanes’ first-run with a two-out single in the bottom of the second. Notre Dame’s Cole Daily and Eric Gilgenbach were each 2-for-4.

Notre Dame (24-29) is back in action Wednesday at 3 p.m., when it continues Pool B play against No. 2 overall seed Clemson. Miami will face the Tigers at 7 on Thursday night, with the winner advancing to Saturday’s 5 p.m. semifinal game.