The Miami Hurricanes jumped out to a 3-0 first inning lead against the Ole Miss Rebels and never looked back, en route to an 11-2 victory Sunday afternoon.
Ole Miss limped in to their showdown with Miami after battling Missouri earlier in the day. The Rebels escaped with a 9-6 victory behind the bat of Logan Power and a late-game grand slam. By 4:30pm ET, a fresh-legged Canes bunch was more than ready for a Rebels squad who just played nine innings in the mid-afternoon Florida heat.
Blake Tekotte put the Rebels to the test, bunting and reaching first on the game’s first pitch. A batter late Jemile Weeks doubled down the left field line and drove Tekotte home for the 1-0 lead. Yonder Alonso flied out, moving Weeks to third and Mark Sobolewski got Weeks home on a ground out to second. Ryan Jackson sent his shot over the left field wall and after five batters, it was 3-0 Miami.
Weeks picked up his second RBI of the day, bringing home Tekotte in the second inning. After recent struggles at the plate, Weeks found his groove today – as did Dennis Raben, who went 2-for-4 with a home run, 2 RBI, 3 runs a double and a walk. Raben’s slump appears to be a distant memory as the Canes gear up for the Super Regional.
Ole Miss scored two in the bottom of the first off of Eric Erickson, making his first start since his outing against Georgia Tech in the ACC Tourney. Erickson started out shaky, giving up two runs on two hits in the first inning, but quickly calmed down and became a menace to the Rebels.
Erickson wound up surrendering 6 hits and 2 runs over seven innings, while striking out 5. Kyle Bellamy came in for one inning of relief, struck out one and gave up no hits, while the dependable Carlos Gutierrez closed it out in the ninth, giving up a lone hit over five batters faced.
Miami’s offense racked up four insurance runs in the final two innings, making it 11-2 and squashing out any notion of a comeback from a depleted Ole Miss bunch who shot their load against Missouri.
Credit to the Canes for pouring it on in this one as the men in blue certainly weren’t helping the cause. As if yesterday’s bad call by Steve Corvi wasn’t enough, Miami was the victim of a handful of equally as frustrating calls today – be it an inconsistent strike zone, calling a Rebel runner safe when Yonder Alonso clearly beat him to the bag or calling Ryan Jackson out on what should’ve been a double, to start a third inning rally.
The Canes certainly weren’t going to get any breaks as the top-ranked teams in the land – be it from the NCAA selection committee who lumped Miami in this bracket or an umpire crew who seemed to have it in for Jim Morris and his squad.
Neither an NCAA bias or a slew of poor calls from this officiating crew was going to stop a driven Miami bunch from achieving a 3-0 record at home this weekend. The Canes advance and the Super Regionals are next, with the site determined (Coral Gables) and the opponent to be announced. Miami will face the winner of the Ann Arbor regional, which will be the victor of the Kentucky/Arizona series.
One step closer. Omaha is within reach and based on this gritty demeanor of this team all weekend, you can tell these kids smell it. The Canes are 50-8 (the first 50-win season since 2004) and this was The U’s 25th Regional Championship in school’s history.
Miami is two wins from a return to the College World Series. Tune in next weekend to watch the drama unfold.