Throw the stats out the window. There was some chatter days back about the Miami matching up against the North Carolina on the diamond, but that wasn’t the case today in Durham.
The Tar Heels only needed eight innings to blank the Hurricanes, 10-0, in the opening round of the ACC Tournament in their home state, all but ending any shot of UM earning a conference title with a miracle run this week.
North Carolina pounced on Miami, and starting pitcher Andrew Suarez, immediately, putting together a three-run first inning. The Heels tacked on two more in the third, up 5-0 in the top of the sixth when head coach Jim Morris finally went to the bullpen and brought in Eric Whaley.
Suarez gave up eleven hits, struck out four and was charged with seven runs as UNC got two off Whaley, going up 7-0 after six. Vince Kossak closed things for Miami as all three pitchers combined to give up eighteen total hits and ten runs.
Still, the first inning truly set the tone for Miami and allowed the better team to pounce early. A throwing error by UM helped plate the game’s first run, but a two out, two-run single blew things open, rattling the Canes and firing-up the Tar Heels.
Kent Emanuel, ACC Pitcher Of The Year, was brilliant for North Carolina, going eight innings, surrendering four hits and keeping Miami off the scoreboard. He also knew he had UM’s number in this opening game.
“They were in total swing mode,” Emmanuel said. “Even if I made bad pitches, they would swing and get themselves out. As the game went on, I was just pitching to the edges and they were going to pop up or ground out.”
… and the hitting fundamentals continue to plague this undisciplined Hurricanes squad.
Is North Carolina the better team? By far. Is Miami this bad? It’s looking that way.
Earlier in the year UM took game one of a three-game series, 4-1, but was dispersed 14-2 a day later and dropped the rubber match, 4-1 on St. Patrick’s Day. The Canes then stumbled down the stretch, losing several series, including Florida State and to ACC bottom feeders like Boston College and Wake Forest, while winning two-of-three against both Clemson and Georgia Tech.
Miami takes on North Carolina State at 11am ET on Friday and then gets a crack at Clemson at 3pm ET on Saturday. From there, the waiting game to see where the NCAA Regional will bring. Should the Canes get in, they’ll be hitting the road and will be doing so at a time when team is struggling away from home and is far from peaking.
Even a recent players’ only meeting did nothing to provide a spark, leaving this post-season feeling like a formality, as have recent late May / early June showdowns. Miami topped North Carolina and Wake Forest in last year’s ACC Tournament before falling to Georgia Tech and the Canes wound up hosting a home regional.
The rest is embarrassing history as Miami was thwacked by fourth-seeded Stony Brook, 10-2 and was smoked 12-2 in the loser’s bracket the following day by three-seed Missouri State.
The Bears tagged the Canes for seven in the first inning and let 9-0 after two, while the Seawolves poured it on late in game one, scoring six in the final three innings.
Today’s 10-0 beat down at the hands of a good North Carolina team felt similar in the sense that Miami is playing lifeless, no matter who the opponent. Wins against North Carolina State and Clemson would help, but a huge shot in the arm is needed pronto if this team thinks it’s going to do anything in the post-season.