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GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Quarterback Cam Ward made his way toward the Miami tunnel, green-and-orange clad Hurricanes fans screaming to get his attention.

Coach Mario Cristobal stopped him, then directed him to a large contingent who were hollering behind their bench the entire game so Ward could wave and high-five.

Nobody could blame the Hurricanes for lingering on the field postgame or for Cristobal wanting his players to salute the fans. This win meant just a little bit more, on the road, against an in-state rival, in a stadium where Miami last won 22 years ago.

Ward was easily the biggest difference-maker in a dominant 41-17 win over Florida on Saturday, a statement that all the hype surrounding the Hurricanes over the past nine months was well-deserved. By the third quarter, chants of “Let’s Go Canes” could be heard in the Swamp.

“Some advice to the fans: If you’re going to be loud, you have to be loud when we’re huddling. Can’t just be loud once we break the huddle. By that time, there’s no point. We hear the play. We communicated already. But it was a good atmosphere to play in. And I’m just excited now we were able to get a victory.”

Miami QB Cam Ward

When the day began, over 90,000 fans filled the seats, but Ward quieted them with his escapability, smarts, and laser-like accuracy, throwing for 385 yards — the most in a debut in program history — three touchdowns and one interception.

Afterward, clearly perturbed that one of the biggest storylines entering the game was that the Canes never had played in an environment that loud before, Ward had a message for Gator fans.

“I played at USC,” said Ward, who transferred to Miami from Washington State. “USC wasn’t packed, but it was louder than this. I played in Oregon, it was louder than this. The Pac-12 gets misspoken for. Some advice to the fans: If you’re going to be loud, you have to be loud when we’re huddling. Can’t just be loud once we break the huddle. By that time, there’s no point. We hear the play. We communicated already. But it was a good atmosphere to play in. And I’m just excited now we were able to get a victory.”

Ward was one of the biggest reasons why. His surprise arrival in January from the portal, after initially declaring for the NFL draft, served to buoy hopes that the Hurricanes could have a breakthrough season in Year 3 under Cristobal. Miami also signed other key players from the portal, including Damien Martinez, Tyler Baron and Meesh Powell, but Ward garnered all the attention after his standout spring performance.

He showed why now that the games actually count.

“Yeah, he’s not bad,” Cristobal said with a smile during his postgame news conference. “All the stuff that you guys were probably wondering during camp: ‘Man, they talk a lot about Cam Ward. Is he really that good?’ He’s just scratching the surface. Really accurate, improvised, extended plays. Every team has a spark plug. Every game has a spark plug. He was the guy today.”

There were plenty of highlight-reel plays, but perhaps his best came in the third quarter. Ward was forced out of the pocket and scrambled to his left. From there, he saw Jacolby George in the back of the end zone. Ward fired a pass and George caught it, tiptoeing to stay in bounds for the 23-yard score.

“He’s one of the best receivers in the scramble drill, and when you have a receiving corps like that, you have a tight end court like us, it’s hard to play man and play zone, because at some point someone is going to break on the defense,” Ward said. “We really didn’t get a chance to get in our bag like that as an offense [like] we really wanted to. Routine plays win games, and that’s something that we did.”

Was that touchdown pass to George really a routine play?

“I’ve made plays like that before, so it’s a routine play to me,” Ward said. “Great catch by him. He was able to have good spatial awareness at the back of the end zone.”

For the fifth time in his career, Ward had 350 passing yards while completing at least 70% of his passes. According to ESPN Stats & Information, the only two FBS quarterbacks with more such games since 2022 are Michael Penix Jr. and Bo Nix.

Florida rarely pressured him — just nine times on 38 dropbacks. What unfolded looked and felt different, not only because of Ward but because of physical, dominant play up front.

Cristobal, a former offensive lineman, has worked hard to build the Hurricanes in the trenches and said, “We’re playing Miami football now.” Of course, Miami fans have been filled with hope before following a big nonconference win that could potentially help springboard a championship season. Even last year, Miami beat Texas A&M in Week 2 on the way to a 4-0 start. But a botched kneel down against Georgia Tech sent the Hurricanes reeling, and they ended up 7-6.

Cristobal was not ready to make any proclamations after Saturday, but the enormity of the win was not lost on him, either. Now, Miami has to build off it.

“We’ve been working our butts off,” Cristobal said. “Getting a convincing win like that is great, but the most important thing that we talked about was for the first time in a long time, Miami’s had a chance to play a big-time game to start the season, and now we got to show we can handle that success and go get better. Today was a really, really big step.”

Or as Powell said, “This is just one game. We plan to go 16 more.”

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Rockies closer Halvorsen (elbow strain) put on IL

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Rockies closer Halvorsen (elbow strain) put on IL

DENVER — The Colorado Rockies have put closer Seth Halvorsen on the 15-day injured list with a right elbow strain after he had to leave Saturday’s win over Pittsburgh.

Interim manager Warren Schaeffer said at the time the injury didn’t look good — following the right-hander’s exit after throwing five pitches in the ninth inning. Halvorsen leads the Rockies with 11 saves.

Colorado also recalled right-hander Nick Anderson and catcher Braxton Fulford from Triple-A Albuquerque on Sunday, and the Rockies optioned infielder Michael Toglia to Albuquerque.

The 25-year-old Halvorsen is 1-2 with a 4.99 ERA this year. He made his big league debut in August of 2024.

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Brewers’ Miz scratched from start, placed on IL

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Brewers' Miz scratched from start, placed on IL

Milwaukee Brewers All-Star rookie Jacob Misiorowski was placed on the injured list with a left tibia contusion prior to his scheduled start against the Washington Nationals on Sunday.

Misiorowski told reporters that he anticipates missing about two starts and being ready to go after the 15 days. The IL move is retroactive to Thursday.

The right-hander took a liner to the shin off the bat of the Chicago CubsSeiya Suzuki in the first inning of his last start Monday. Later in the inning, after fielding a dribbler in front of the mound, Misiorowski’s knee buckled as he threw wildly to first and two runners scored.

The 23-year-old Misiorowski stayed in the game, pitching three more innings before coming out after 80 pitches.

Misiorowski is 4-1 with 47 strikeouts in 33⅓ innings this season.

In a related move, the Brewers recalled right-hander Logan Henderson from Triple-A Nashville, and he is expected to start against the Nationals on Sunday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Braves-Reds showcase at Bristol stalled by rain

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Braves-Reds showcase at Bristol stalled by rain

BRISTOL, Tenn. — It was a red flag for Major League Baseball at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday night.

The Speedway Classic between the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds was suspended in the first inning because of rain, soaking a record-breaking crowd for the first regular-season game in Tennessee. The plan is to resume the game on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.

The first delay at the historic bullring of a racetrack came after the ceremonial first pitch featuring a pair of Hall of Famers in Johnny Bench and Chipper Jones, joined by NASCAR drivers Kyle Busch and Chase Elliott. The second with one out in the bottom of the first led to the game being pushed back a day.

Fans who stuck out the first delay of 2 hours, 17 minutes started heading toward the exits before the game was postponed with the Reds holding a 1-0 lead.

It was an unwelcome detour for the long-planned event mixing baseball and NASCAR.

“We’re going to suspend tonight’s game. … We are optimistic for a better weather forecast for tomorrow,” Michael Hill, MLB’s senior vice president of on-field operations, told Fox.

The rain made life difficult on the players before the suspension. A bat flew out of TJ Friedl‘s hands as he led off for the Reds. A pitcher seemed to catch his footing going to cover first base.

The Speedway Classic was announced nearly a year ago as part of commissioner Rob Manfred’s push to take MLB to places where baseball isn’t played every day live. MLB played a game at the “Field of Dreams” movie site in Iowa in 2021 and 2022. Games have been held in Alabama and North Carolina too.

Reds pitcher Andrew Abbott showed up Saturday afternoon at Bristol wearing a cutoff version of a NASCAR race suit. Born in Lynchburg, Virginia, Abbott said he wanted something to wear in for a special game.

“I grew up around NASCAR,” Abbott said. “Just went on eBay and found a couple options, and luckily that was the one that arrived in time. I had a couple of backups. I know who Rusty Wallace is too, so I actually do know the backstory behind it.”

Long before the fans departed in the rain, they were entertained by a 110-foot Ferris wheel along with food trucks, live music, pitching tunnels and batting cages. Fans also had a chance for photos with the Commissioner’s Trophy and Clydesdales outside the historic racetrack.

Inside, star Tim McGraw performed and was joined by Pitbull.

Before the weather moved over the area, players stood in the back of pickup trucks with their numbers emblazoned on the side and rode around the half-mile racetrack. Some used their phones to document the moment. For introductions, the Braves and Reds walked between a pair of cars decked out in Atlanta and Cincinnati colors.

Then the tarp came out as rain that had been falling around Bristol much of Saturday turned heavy and delayed the start.

The first delay led to the Braves switching starting pitchers. Spencer Strider, who grew up in nearby Knoxville, got a bigger ovation than Reds starter Chase Burns, who is from Hendersonville and played at the University of Tennessee. The Reds stuck with Burns despite the delay.

Strider warmed up. The Braves chose not to risk his third start in this situation coming off a second elbow surgery and turned to Austin Cox.

The rain stopped long enough to take off the tarp and start the game.

Michael Waltrip, who raced plenty at Bristol, restarted the festivities by quoting his brother Darrell: “Boogity, boogity, boogity. Let’s play baseball, boys!”

Atlanta went down in order in the top of the first inning. But there was another rain delay after Austin Hays hit an RBI single for Cincinnati in the bottom half.

MLB didn’t try to sell every ticket inside the speedway that drew 156,990 for the Battle of Bristol college football game in 2016. The track with a racing capacity of 146,000 could host 90,000 or more even with sections blocked off.

Officials announced Monday that more than 85,000 tickets had been sold, topping the previous paid attendance of 84,587 set Sept. 12, 1954, when Cleveland Stadium hosted the New York Yankees.

A batter has to clear 400 feet to hit anything out of center field, 375 in the alleys and 330 down each baseline. Pulling a ball down the line raises the prospect of a ball bouncing off the racetrack beyond the outfield wall.

“Honestly, my first thought: I can’t believe they did all this for one game,” Braves first baseman Matt Olson said of his first visit to Bristol. “To be able to set all this up, get a playing surface ready, set the stands up in order to have the proper viewing, it’s pretty incredible.”

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