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Miami Survives Rain Delay, Rallies Late vs. Troy To Set Up Winner's Bracket Showdown Against Florida

On3 imageby: Matt Shodell05/30/26canesport

After a long delay, the Miami Hurricanes baseball team got one small step closer to its goal of reaching Omaha, taking out Troy in its Gainesville regional opener, 10-5, behind a five-run eighth inning.

The game started over four hours late, at 10:15 p.m., with lightning and heavy rain pushing back the original 6 p.m. start time. During the delay Miami players spent time playing cards, Hacky Sack, watching other baseball games on TV and hung out in the batting cages.

“It was a really fun game to be a part of, hard-fought on both sides,” coach J.D. Arteaga said. “Troy is a really good team, don’t give up. A good game all the way around. … Certain things you can’t control – the weather, the big man upstairs is the one that controls that. I’ll never complain about any situation he puts me in because I’ve been blessed my whole life. Just another situation, a delay and then five hours, six hours, whatever it may be. Pretty good feeling it won’t be the last delay of the weekend. Whenever they say play ball we’ll be ready to play.”

They’ll say to play ball again tonight for Miami, weather permitting. And the road will get a lot tougher when Miami faces No. 8 national seed Florida and SEC Pitcher of the Year Aidan King (8-2, 2.68 ERA, .204 batting average against). The game has an updated start time of 8 p.m., and King faced UM Feb. 28 in an 8-4 UF win but only lasted 2 1/3 innings due to an arm cramp, allowing two hits with a walk and three unearned runs.

“He’s a good one,” Arteaga said. “This time of year you have to beat good pitching to be where you want to be.”

The Gators eked out their own Game 1 regional win vs. Rider, 8-7, with a walkoff home run to lead off the ninth.

“Super excited to go play those guys,” Derek Williams said of facing Florida. “At the end of the day it’s baseball. We’ve already seen them before, so we’re going to go take it to them and see what we can do. Big game. It’s going to be a fun one.”

In the Friday night late game the Canes started ace Rob Evans, who entered with a 10-3 record and 3.16 ERA. He allowed three runs on seven hits in five innings, striking out four. Jack Durso followed with two scoreless innings of relief and punched out a pair before Arteaga turned the ball over to Lyndon Glidewell, who got the final six outs while giving up two runs and earned the win. Trojan starter Benjamin Stubbs allowed four runs, three earned, across 5.1 innings with six strikeouts, and the team’s No. 2 starting pitcher Tommy Egan took the loss, allowing five runs on three hits and two walks while recording just one out.

“Durso was outstanding, Rob has been great for us all year, didn’t have his best stuff but battled five innings, gave us a chance to win,” Arteaga said. “Today wasn’t his night. But Jack came in and really did a great job. The last couple of weeks he’s been throwing the ball really well.”

Miami started its 51st NCAA Tournament with some offensive fireworks, adding four runs in the bottom of the third behind a pair of home runs from Vance Sheahan and Williams. Sheahan got the inning started with a solo shot to left field, putting the Hurricanes’ on the board 1-0. After Fabio Peralta grounded out, Jake Ogden was hit by a pitch and Max Galvin reached on a throwing error to put runners at first and second. A wild pitch moved both runners into scoring position before Williams delivered the big blow of the inning, launching his 17th home run of the season, a 389-foot three-run shot to left center, to extend Miami’s lead to 4-0.

“We just tried to stay simple, follow the game plan we had going into it,” Williams said. “I try to help this team win as best we can.”

Troy chipped away over the next two innings, beginning in the fourth when Sean Darnell lined an RBI single down the first base line to score Blake Cavill and cut Miami’s lead to 4-1. The Trojans added two more runs in the fifth after Josh Pyne and Aaron Piasecki reached safely to open the inning. Cavill then delivered a two-run double down the right field line, bringing home both runners and trimming the Hurricanes’ lead to 4-3.

Miami added an important insurance run in the bottom of the seventh. Williams drew a leadoff walk and moved up on a wild pitch before scoring all the way from second on a throwing error by the Troy catcher to make it 5-3, Miami.

Troy threatened again in the top of the eighth after Jimmy Janicki and Steven Meier drew back-to-back walks to open the inning against Miami reliever Lyndon Glidewell. But Miami catcher Alonzo Alvarez came up with one of the biggest plays of the night moments later, throwing down to second after a pitch to catch Janick. The pickoff was crucial as Drew Nelson followed with a two-run homer to right field that tied the game at five as the clock hit 1:18 a.m. at Condron Family Ballpark.

“Glidewell gave up that two-run home run, came back and shut the game down,” Arteaga said. “Glidewell has been really good for us all year … A good game all the way around.”

Miami answered right back in the bottom of the eighth with its biggest inning since the third, hanging five runs on the board to create some serious breathing room late in the game. Ogden got things started with a one-out double to right center before Max Galvin ripped an RBI double down the right field line to put the Hurricanes back in the lead, 6-5. Troy then intentionally walked Williams, and Alex Sosa followed with a walk to load the bases.

Alonzo Alvarez came through with an RBI single to center to push the lead to 7-5, before Dylan Dubovik continued the surge with a sacrifice fly to right center that brought home Williams to make it 8-5, Miami. Two batters later, Brandon DeGoti delivered the knockout blow with a two-run double to left center, scoring Alvarez and Sosa to cap the five-run inning and extend Miami’s lead to 10-5.

DeGoti entered the game with a .235 batting average in just 17 at bats.

“A leadoff double, Max driving him in, and then DeGoti who really hasn’t done a whole lot – I told the team, this time of year, regional, there’s always somebody who hasn’t been in the game that gets big outs or a big hit, big defensive play,” Arteaga said. “You saw that tonight.”

Now the page turns to UF.

Miami will start AJ Ciscar on the mound (5-4, 4.44 ERA). He had a strong outing against Florida in a 7-2 loss Feb. 27, working seven innings and allowing five hits and four runs (three earned) while striking out six with no walks.

“He’s had some hiccups this season, has responded very well,” Arteaga said of Ciscar. “As recent as week 13 he did not pitch great at home, then went to Florida State and threw seven scoreless innings. He has to be down in the zone. There’s no secret to it. Get his sinker to work, pitch inside, throw his breaking ball for strikes, get ahead of guys. Baseball is baseball, man. There’s no secret sauce to it.”

Arteaga adds “Our goal was to win game 1 and get to the winner bracket game. We have a great opportunity.”

And perhaps Alvarez summed up the team’s mindset best off the Game 1 victory.

“Ready to get some rest,” he said. “It’s going to be a fun game tomorrow.”