Coral Gables – A season with tons of fan expectations got underway this weekend at Mark Light Stadium. The Miami Hurricanes baseball team took 2-of-3 from visiting Penn State to get the season off and running. After a rough 9-5 opening night loss, portions of the Miami fanbase went off as they believed the sky was already falling. Thankfully, the kids in the dugout responded with back-to-back 10-2 and 3-2 victories to win the series…which is all you need to do in baseball. The finale was especially dramatic as the Canes were down 2-1 in the bottom of the ninth and CJ Kayfus went boom with a 2-run walk-off homerun!

It would appear this team is really good at hitting BOMBS. In total, 8 over the three games, and some of them were monsters. Junior Zach Levenson hit three, so if you took him hitting more than the seven he did last season, you’re in great shape. Listen, it was only three games, but going in there was a general belief that this team should smash and we saw nothing through the first three to dispel that idea.

On the mound, it was mixed results. Gage Ziehl was lit up in the opener. Is that a sign of things to come for his season or simply opening night jitters? Reality, we will find out pretty fast. Hopefully he settles down and rebounds fast. The bullpen was equally shaky on Friday but rebounded nicely, especially on Sunday when Chris Scinta, Brian Walters and Andrew Walters shut Penn State down over the final 3.2 innings allowing only two hits. Alejandro Rosario pitched well on Sunday going 5.1 and only allowing two runs. It was a bit laborious at times as he threw 91 pitches and sprinkled in 4 walks. Karson Ligon on Saturday pitched an efficient 81 pitch gem going 6.2 and only allowing two hits and the one run.

Canes will have little time to rest as they welcome Stetson to town on Tuesday and Indiana State on Wednesday before Dartmouth arrives for a three game set over the weekend.