Florida State Sweeps Miami

Another three-game series fail for Miami this weekend. Much like getting worked by top-ranked Florida in early March (7-5, 13-5 and 8-5 losses), this time around second-ranked. Florida State played the role of bully, sweeping the Canes in Tallahassee.

Miami was pounded 11-2 in game one, fell 6-1 on Saturday and gave up Sunday’s showdown in dramatic fashion, an 8-7 loss in extra innings. It was the Noles first sweep of the Canes since the 2002 season.

Honestly, the series not even worth ‘recapping’ as it’s the same story over and over. Bats either not coming alive, or failing miserably, pitching not getting the job done, mental errors and mistakes on defense. The Canes had two errors in Friday night’s loss and followed up with four on Saturday.

Sunday was error-free, but proved to be feast or famine. Miami scored seven in the fourth inning, including a grand slam by Michael Broad, but went scoreless in the rest of ten inning affair.

The Canes left eight on base, including two in the top of the tenth. With runners on first and second and two outs, Garrett Kennedy went down swinging. Florida State batters then singled, struck out, stole a base were hit by a pitch and again singled, driving in the walk-off game-winner.

Saturday night’s showdown was close, on paper. The Canes had six hits to the Noles’ seven, but four errors to FSU’s zero. Two errors came in an eventual four-run second inning for Florida State.

In Friday night’s 11-2 thrashing, Miami ace Eric Erickson was roughed up, lasting only five innings and matching a career-high six earned runs. Erickson entered the game with a 6-0 record against the Seminoles.

The Canes gave up thirteen hits on Friday night, as well as a five-run seventh inning, killing any notion of a comeback and surrendering any momentum it brought into a brutal road series.

Miami is now 7-8 on the road and with RPI giving more credit to away-from-home wins (125% to 75%), is destroying it’s post-season fate one loss at a time. The Canes have also dropped to No. 22 in the latest AP poll, begging the question – what in the hell is wrong with this squad, sitting at 26-14 and 12-9 in the ACC?

Head coach Jim Morris has relied on coach-speak when talking to the media. After Saturday’s loss, Morris tried to make sense of another four-error performance.

“We practice everyday around what mistakes we’re making,” Morris said. “The bottom line is that guys have to clutch up and make plays in the clutch.”

Hardly an earth-shattering take, but in the same breath, what really can be said? These are collegiate student athletes who earned scholarships to play baseball at the University of Miami.

Routine errors, mental mistakes and unclutch play shouldn’t be the case at this level. Dropped balls in foul territory prior to a pair of base hits that resulted in runs? That was the case on Friday night. On Saturday, an errant throw on a double-play attempt, a poor relay throw (following a single to the outfield) and a balk, were three second-inning flubs that allowed the Noles to put four on the board.

On one level you have to ask how Miami coaches are supposed to school talented kids on basic fundamentals that are seemingly lost right now. It’s not a matter of these kids not knowing what to do – it’s a matter of getting them to trust themselves and to routinely do what they’ve been doing for years – which is the million dollar challenge right now.

Regardless, it all has to come back to a coaching staff that recruited these players, is responsible with developing them and has to produce with said talent. Why are Florida and Florida State’s kids getting it done while Miami’s aren’t?

We can play the scholarship game all day long – a point of made by fellow allCanes blogger Brian ‘The Beast’ London, though I personally struggle to buy it. Especially when schools like Stanford and Rice find ways to succeed despite limited scholarships and high-priced tuition rates.

Beyond that, it’s not like Miami doesn’t belong on the same field as its highly-ranked, Sunshine State counterparts. Losses to the Gators and Seminoles have all been the difference between smart, clutch play and boneheaded mistakes made by kids who know better.

As a long-time supporter of this program, like many others, it’s impossible to not take for granted the run Miami baseball had in the 80s, 90s and early 00s. It seemed like Omaha was a given – and for a while, it was.

From there, joining the ACC proved more difficult than life as an Independent and those extra handful of games lost each year – including more road trips – kills the RPI and puts Miami in a real pinch come the post-season – the last three ending in Regional, Super Regional and Regional defeats in Gainesville, while Florida advanced each time.

Fourteen games remain before the ACC Baseball Tournament and a safe bet, based on recent play is to predict 10-4 down the stretch. Maybe a game or two better or worse, but it’s safe to believe that something along the line of a 36-18 finish is in the cards, which sets the stage for another post-season road trip and colossal failure.

Miami wrapped the 2011 regular season 34-20 and went 2-1 at the ACC Tourney, which earned the Canes a trip to the Gainesville Regional, where UM beat Jacksonville twice, but fell to the Gators, 5-4 and 11-4, ending the season.

Based on the sweeps by Florida and Florida State this year, as well as head-scrathing losses to Duke, Maryland, Clemson, Central Florida, Florida Gulf Coast and Virginia Tech, how can even the most optimistic Cane feel good about where this program sits in late April?

The ACC Tourney starts a month from today. What can Miami do between now and then to fix the basic, fundamental errors that have plagued this team more and more as the season rolls on? We’ll see.

This next month is where Coach Morris and staff have to earn their paychecks and should there be another colossal fail, might have to start defending their jobs.

The past is the past – and what a glorious past it’s been, but truth be told, this program hasn’t truly had a meaningful moment since tanking in the top of the ninth against Georgia in the opening round of the 2008 College World Series.

Miami hasn’t sniffed Omaha since and don’t appear headed back this June, which at least warrants some off-season discussion as to the future of Hurricane baseball. – C.B.

Comments

comments