The Clock is TICKING for Miami Hurricanes on Oct 22 Scrimmage

TICK TOCK, TICK TOCK, TICK TOCK. The clock is ticking for 8 players with only three weeks left to make their case. Three days coming off an exhibition game with the Owls where we saw little hitting, today the bats exploded for 21 hits; two of which were for HRs, one triple, and three doubles. Most of the cuts will come from the overload we have in pitching and the outfield but there is no sacred cow. Veterans, transfers, and freshmen are all on the line with possibly three exceptions: Daniel Cuvet and Todd Hudson who will probably be batting  3 and 4 in the starting lineup and Dorian Gonzalez batting 1st or 2nd. As for sure keepers with the pitching staff I am looking at Brian Walters, Nick Robert, and Griffin Hugus as the weekend starters and Slaide Naturman as our Closer because of his submarine approach. All the infield positions are locked in except for shortstop. This could be any one of three: Jake Ogden, Amaury DeJesus, or Brandon DeGoti. As for our catchers, I would have all three pack their bags which we all know is not possible. None of them and I mean none of them can throw a ball to 2nd base with accuracy. Being that we have to have three on the roster, I would place Evan Taveras in the BP and Tanner Smith as the starting catcher only because of his experience with three years playing collegiate ball. All three can hit equally but it is their throw accuracy to second which concerns me most. As for the outfield, it is anyone’s guess. This will be a tough one for the coaches to select from. Anyone could be on a starting team elsewhere.

That’s three weeks down the road. Today, an earlier start from the scheduled 10AM scrimmage due to possible weather in the area. 8 1/2 innings were scheduled with 6 pitchers each throwing 3 innings apiece except for Brixton Lofgren who pitched 2 innings.  I arrived halfway through the first with Elijah Hurt on first from a single standing on second. AJ Ciscar on the mound. Bobby Marsh at the plate with two outs. Before I even had a chance to get organized, the first run was put on the board with a double, scoring Hurt from second. This was followed up with a single by Jake Kulikowski bringing home Bobby for a pair of runs in the first. Troubles continued in the second for AJ with a Max Galvin double, who came home after throwing a WP and a SF to right by Daniel Cuvet. Settling down in the third, a three up/three down inning.

Opposing AJ for the first three innings was James Kleiven. Unlike AJ, James never dug himself into a hole through his first 2 innings except for an error he committed in the second but managed to work himself out of it. He barely escaped the third after walking three with BL one out. Max Galvin hit into a 5-4-3 DP preventing any damage.

Lazaro Collera and Tate DeRias next on tap for three innings. Lazaro managed to stay unblemished from having any runs scored unlike Tate who had 4 runs recorded against him; two in the 4th with the same in the 5th. Lazaro did have the honor of giving up the first single of the preseason to Daniel Cuvet who had been hitless until the 5th inning today. That would be his only hit of the day going 1-3 with a SF. Daniel is not having the best of the preseason so far. Maybe with this hit out of his system, he will start cranking out the hits.

As stated Tate except for the 6th inning had a rough go today. One out walk to Ethan Puig, Dorian advanced him to third with a single, and with runners on the corners, Derek Williams drove Puig home with an RBI single. This was followed with a drop ball at first what should have been an easy 1-3 put out to load the bases. A walk to Alex Kuenzle for the second run of the inning. In the 5th, back-to-back singles Renzo and Jake Ogden put runners on 1st and 2nd. Following the singles a pair of strikeouts to Marsh and Kulikowski was a slight reprieve before Brandon DeGoti lowered the hammer with a double scoring Jake and Renzo.

Rounding out the start of week 3 were Ryan Ashford and Brixton Lofgren. On Saturday I brought Ashford out the the deepest hole in the BP never to be seen again after a commendable performance. After today, you will have to look very hard in the deepest realm of the BP for any trace of Ryan because he buried himself so deep that a mass excavation will be needed to dig him out. What is so sad about this is that he is one of four LH pitchers soon to be 3. The problem he had in his first game was control and giving up the walk. Today he led off walking Elijah and Renzo. Bobby Marsh brought one in with an RBI single and sealed the inning with runners on the corners with an RBI triple getting by the right fielder for two more. With no outs, JD had seen enough for one inning. If things were not already dark for Ryan, Evan Taveras made it even darker with a HR to left to lead off the 8th. A reprieve with De Jesus striking out before back-to-back singles by Michael Torres and Max Gavin. With Runners on the corners, Daniel steps to the plate looking for his second hit of the preseason. Instead, he grounded to short setting up a 6-4-3 DP but the SS only managed to get the lead runner, scoring Torres from 3rd.

Brixton, unlike his fellow hurlers, only got to throw two innings. His first inning, Ethan Puig hit a two-out single setting up for a two-run homer by Dorian and almost did likewise the following inning with a high bomb to right by Renzo to right with the wind keeping the ball inside the park taken down at the wall.

Twenty-one hits exploded off the bats today with 8 batters with multiple numbers. Bobby Marsh 2-4(double,2RBIs); Jake Kulikowski 2-4(triple,RBI); Michael Torres 2-3; Max Galvin 2-4(double); Ethan Puig(2-4); Dorian Gonzalez 2-3(HR,2RBIs); Elijah Hurt 2-4; Evan Taveras 2-3(HR,RBI).

Three more games are scheduled for the remainder of the week with the next scrimmage set for 9AM. With each scrimmage, the pressure continues before the final game set for 9 Nov which is SCOUT DAY where those draft-eligible will be on trying to put on their showcase performance.