How Miami Will Beat Virginia Friday Night

After the incredibly exciting 11Th inning victory over the Virginia Cavaliers last night, the Miami Hurricanes are riding high and ready to do it again. Chris Hernandez steps on the mound for the Canes Friday night and looks to keep his strikeout count high and earned runs low. Chris is 8-2 with a 3.04 ERA.

In order to beat the Cavaliers Friday night the Canes will need to jump out early, hopefully tacking a few unanswered runs on in the first couple of innings. Chris Hernandez needs to be incredibly selective with his pitching tonight and paint the corners taking away as much power from the hitters as possible. If Chris can put up his usual 7 or 8 strikeouts tonight, we will be in good shape.

The real test will come with our relief team. Our relievers have been responsible for most of the blown games this year, at least 8 that we can count of so far. Our coaching staff has been sporadic to say the least with our choice of relievers which hasn't given anyone much confidence. The relief staff however has not been consistent, which gives the coaching staff no reason to place their confidence in anyone, so we need the pitching to step up big time late in the game.

We no longer have a dominating closer like Kyle Bellamy so this is a major issue, but if we can just get the middle relievers and closers to throw well, we will win tonight.

We have shown over the past few weeks that our bats will not let us down, so the hitting will be there tonight. It all comes down to the pitching.

Here is the recipe for success Friday night:

6-7 innings from Chris Hernandez , Hopefully 8 strikeouts or more. No more than 2-3 runs.
We will need at least 10 hits.
We need 3-4 runs early, and 3-4 late. Let's say 8 runs total.
The Middle relievers cannot give up more than 1-2 runs.
The closers need to limit runs to less than 2.

If this happens we will tonight 8-5 and the Canes will roll into Saturday with the motivation they will need to sweep the Cavs.


It's all about the U......Chris Hernandez....and our relief staff. Lets Go CANES...