Miami baseball vs. No. 17 Duke; ACC Tournament
View live updates and discuss the ACC Tournament semifinal game between the Miami Hurricanes and the No. 17 Duke Blue Devils at Truist Field in Charlotte, N.C. on Saturday (5:00 p.m., ACCN).
OUTLOOK
Miami (27-29, 11-19 ACC), the 11-seed, won 8-7 over No. 3 Clemson, the 2-seed, on Thursday to clinch Pool B after opening with an 8-5 over 7-seed Louisville on Tuesday. … Duke (37-18, 16-14) won Pool C by beating No. 12 N.C. State, the 3-seed, 8-1 on Thursday and won 11-8 over 10-seed Virginia Tech on Tuesday. … The winner will advance to the championship game on Sunday (12:00 p.m., ESPN2) against the winner of No. 10 Florida State and No. 22 Wake Forest, which play earlier on Saturday. … All 12 winning teams in the tournament have scored at least eight runs. … Miami’s lone path at earning an NCAA Tournament bid for the fifth consecutive tournament is by winning the ACC tournament. … Miami (2008) and Duke (2021) have each won one ACC Tournament title. … Duke swept Miami in Durham on April 5-7, winning all three games by one run. … Miami is 5-5 in their last 10 ACC games, Duke is 5-5. … Miami hit .270 with 41 home runs and averaged 6.0 runs in conference games (11th) with a 6.79 ERA and allowed 7.3 runs per game (9th) with a .969 fielding percentage. … Duke hit .291 with 52 home runs and averaged 7.3 runs in conference games (5th) with a 5.70 ERA and allowed 6.3 runs per game (4th) with a .981 fielding percentage.
SERIES RECORD: Miami leads 49-17
LAST SERIES: Duke won all three games on April 5-7 in Durham, N.C.
PROBABLE STARTERS
Duke: RHP Ryan Higgins (2-1, 5.77 ERA) is scheduled to make his seventh start of the season. Higgins gave up four runs and walked four batters in 1 1/3 innings in his last appearance on Tuesday against Virginia Tech, which followed him tying a season-high by pitching four innings and allowing one run against North Carolina on May 17. He pitched 2 2/3 innings against Miami on April 6 and allowed four hits and two runs with three strikeouts and no walks. He is holding opponents to a .219 batting average this season.
Miami: LHP Herick Hernandez (3-7, 6.47) is set to make his 14th start of the season. Hernandez threw 1 2/3 innings in relief and allowed two unearned runs in his last appearance on May 17 out of the bullpen to assure he was rested for the ACC Tournament. He pitched 4 2/3 innings and allowed six hits and six runs, four earned, in his last start on May 12 at Virginia Tech. Hernandez’s best start against an ACC team came at Duke on April 7 as he allowed five hits and one run in six innings while tying a season-high with 10 strikeouts.
Check back for updates including the starting lineup and discuss the game.
Christopher Stock has covered the Miami Hurricanes since 2003 and can be reached by e-mail at [email protected] and on Twitter @InsideTheU.
