Miami and FAU Fall Scrimmage Report 10/18/2025

By Andrew Riedell

Fall Ball is here in South Florida, as the Miami Hurricanes had their first and only scrimmage of the fall against the FAU Owls in Coral Gables, Florida. The Hurricanes returned 15 players and brought in 25 players via the transfer portal and freshmen coming on board. This was my second time seeing the new look FAU Owls, but this was my first time this fall seeing the projected Friday night starter in James Litman. Miami did not throw AJ Ciscar and Rob Evans, who are both projected to play big roles in the Miami pitching staff this upcoming season. The scrimmage was 10 innings long, and instead of traditional three outs, they both just brought up five batters each in each inning, so everyone could get a lot of work in. Let's jump into it!

FAU Notes:

The FAU Owls lose a lot of key pieces due to the transfer portal, huge names Trey Beard, MJ Bollinger, and Jake Duer, all to Power 4 schools, so I give a lot of credit to Head Coach John McCormack and his staff for the work they did in bringing in a really competitive transfer portal class and freshmen. The big name I have enjoyed watching is CF Marshall Lipsey for the Owls. I believe he can win the American Player of the Year, as he can hit all parts of the ballpark and is a really hard hitter to strikeout. James Litman, the West Boca product, got the start for the Owls, and he went two innings. I was really impressed with his stuff and with the program's newly promoted pitching coach, Hunter Cooley. I expect him and some other returning arms to take that next step this next year. Garrett Grant was another arm that impressed me today for the Owls. He is a freshman, and he retired 9 out of the 10 batters he faced, getting strike outs of Alex Sosa and Daniel Cuvet. Offensively for the Owls, I have been impressed by Nova Southeastern transfer Xavier Moronta, who, in both FAU scrimmages I have seen he has smacked the ball all around the ballpark. Danny Baez also launched a home run for the Owls today.

Miami Notes:

Tate DeRias got the start for the Canes today, and he struggled out of the gate, allowing two runs in his first inning of work. He worked into a lot of deep counts, same with the Canes' first reliever, Jake Dorn. In his first inning, he struggled, but in his second inning, he showed a plus fastball/change-up combo from the left side. Lyndon Glidewell and Ryan Bilka were two transfer arms that also really impressed me today. Offensively, the big name in this Canes lineup was Daniel Cuvet, and he did not disappoint as in his first at bat of the day, he nearly left the ballpark, but the wind kept it in for a very long sacrifice fly to dead center field. Cuvet's final at-bat of the day, though, was where he did the damage as he sent a LONG flyball over the LF scoreboard for a two-run home run. Jake Ogden got the nod at shortstop today in the leadoff spot, and he went 2-2. He looked really comfortable at the plate. New transfer Vance Sheehan also had a base hit in his Canes fall debut. Some of the new freshman hitters, though, really impressed me, especially Gabriel Milano and Alonzo Alvarez, who both had multiple hits on the day for the Canes. Brylan West (FIU Transfer) and Alex Sosa (NC State Transfer) both started in the lineup today and had some solid at-bats as well.

Final Thoughts:

For FAU, my final thoughts coming out of the game today, we're "Wow, if I am Coach McCormack, I am really proud of how they competed." The American Conference is going to be very competitive this season, and I can see the Owls making some noise in what could potentially be Coach McCormack's last season. For Miami, I was really impressed with the lineup, with my main concern still being how deep this pitching staff is. Some key arms have yet to throw for the Canes this fall, such as Nick Robert and Frank Menendez, who are both recovering from arm surgeries, but when both of those guys are healthy, they will make a huge impact for this pitching staff.