Miami Baseball: Still Making Sense Of Omaha

If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all. Something like that, at least. That’s sort of been the mantra this past week as the Miami Hurricanes took two on the chin from the Florida Gators, ending another run at a College World Series prematurely.

Sitting on a post-game recap for a week helped quell the frustration a bit, but things are far from rosy with UM going 1-2 in Omaha for the fourth consecutive time in as many tries since that 2001 national championship.

As always, the competition in Omaha was fierce, everyone deserved to be there, veteran leadership prevailed, Vanderbilt and Virginia played for it all (in a rematch of last year’s title series), with the Cavaliers walking away victorious. The others, coming up equally short wherever their journey ended as there’s only one winner.

Since the Canes got worked in an elimination game last Wednesday at TD Ameritrade Park—bats against silenced by the Gators, while Florida went on another offensive tear—a lot of time has been spent trying to focus on a silver lining and the positives.

For starters, Miami reached Omaha and that deserves recognition. A hearty congrats and welcome back as it was a long time coming.

Seven years removed from the College World Series, it’s a special accomplishment Canes fans begun taking for granted after such a run in the 1980’s and 1990’s, where reaching the Elite Eight was all but expected.

The Canes closed the regular season strong, as well, winning 12-in-a-row—nothing to sneeze at.

There were also two stellar comebacks at the ACC Tournament, taking down eventual national champion Virginia and Notre Dame in dramatic, late-game fashion.

Taking 14-of-15 set the stage for Miami to earn a five-seed, hosting both a Regional and Super Regional, going 5-1 over that stretch and advancing for the first time since 2008.

Once in Omaha, the Canes were seemingly exposed—tagged opening night against the Gators, 15-3 by way of a disastrous, record-setting, 11-run fourth inning. Still, even without that embarrassing frame, UM falls, 4-3.

Even worse, add up every run UM scored in Omaha and it still falls to Florida in that third and final game, 10-9. Those aluminum bats may have well been icicles.

Still, Miami showed resolve and slugged it out with Arkansas in an elimination game; punctuated by a walk-off single by a number nine hitter—who also delivered a two-run shot mid-game to get things rolling and went on a base-stealing tear to manufacture another.

The win presented, a do-or-die, one-game season situation against Florida, who again rolled—10-2, this time—sending the Canes packing. It marked Miami’s 17th loss of the season, which didn’t look so bad next to those 50 wins. Theoretically, hard not to call the season a success.

Props given and all that said, it’s impossible to not play devil’s advocate to some of the stats and overall season-ending narrative while trying to dissect how Miami could pull such a no-show on the grandest stage the sport has to offer.

No one on this Hurricanes’ roster had reached Omaha; the senior class almost four years removed from Miami’s last trek to college baseball’s field of dreams. This was a long time in the making and the expectation—at least to the outsider and longtime supporter—was to see one of the nation’s hottest hitting teams show up ready to deliver on some level.

Motivation-wise, there was some familiarity with in-state rival Florida. A team the Canes dropped two one-run games earlier in the year, but also rolled 7-2 on a Saturday night at McKethan Stadium.

In short, that team from up north was beatable.

The Gators rolled into Omaha hot, but not as hot as the Canes allowed them to look—outscoring Miami, 25-5 over two games. A four- versus a five-seed and it wasn’t even competitive.

“The U” didn’t have recent history on its side—the series weighing heavily UF’s favor the past several years—but two revenge opportunities presented itself and UM rose to the occasion in neither.

Miami, a team whose entire starting line-up was hitting in the healthy .300’s entering the College World Series, saw it’s offense completely vanish. In 95 total at bats the Canes tallied 22 hits and hovered around .240 over a three-game span.

Furthermore, the chemistry appeared completely off.

The top part of the line-up couldn’t buy its way on base, the heavy hitters couldn’t deliver when relied up and the bottom half provided a few sparks here and there, but nothing consistent enough to make a difference—outside of a 3-for-3 performance out of Jacob Heyward against the Razorbacks.

Ricky Eusebio earned his way on base a few times as a hit batter, but still finished 0-for-9 in Omaha. The 3-4-5 meat of the line-up that was George Iskenderian, Zack Collins and David Thompson was 8-for-31 over three games; Thompson going 2-of-10, despite all his regular season clutch-hitting.

Garrett Kennedy was 1-of-9 over 27 innings. Brandon Lopez, 3-for-3 game one and 0-for-7 the final two games. Willie Abreu with one hit in twelve attempts; smashing a double in the bottom of the ninth against Arkansas, setting the stage for Heyward.

Even Heyward, super-hot game two, responded with an 0-for-4 performance against Florida on Wednesday, when moved up to the seven spot.

Miami stranded 25 runners over the course of three match-ups and were out-hit in every game—none worse than the elimination game against the Gators, with the Canes only putting four balls in play in a must-win situation.

Pitching obviously didn’t fare much better, giving up 28 runs over three games. Canes’ ace Andrew Suarez got a woodshed beating in the opener against Florida, lasting just over three innings—a disastrous day on the mound where five of Miami’s eight pitchers were smacked around.

Thomas Woodrey was on point against Arkansas, but Enrique Sosa was chased after one in the rematch against Florida, bringing Suarez back on three days rest, where he gave up five hits and three runs over three innings—while the offense didn’t even get on the board until the bottom of the sixth, already down, 8-0.

The manner in which Miami lost; it leaves more questions than answers. In hindsight, was this team really as good as its overall record?

Down the stretch and in the moment it was easy to boast about a winning streak and argue that Miami deserved to be a national seed.

In reality, those winning ways started on a Sunday against Florida State, after the Seminoles already took the first two, and from there it was Pittsburgh, Bethune-Cookman, New York Institute of Technology, Florida Atlantic and Georgia Tech to close the regular season.

Not exactly Murderer’s Row.

Prior to that, series Miami lost; Virginia, Louisville and Florida, while sweeping Virginia Tech, Duke, NC State and Rutgers, and taking series against North Carolina, Wake Forest and Wright State.

The Canes also edged some out in-state competition; Barry, Stetson, Central Florida and Bethune-Cookman, while spitting with Florida Gulf Coast and Florida Atlantic.

Going 4-of-12 in the regular season against the Gators, Cardinals, Seminoles and Cavaliers helps bring into perspective how Miami fared against better talent—something that wasn’t truly exposed until Omaha, based on how the Regionals and Supers played out.

Miami took on fourth-seeded Florida International once and faced third-seeded Columbia three times in the Coral Gables Regional A week later UM hosted VCU—the upset-minded fourth-seed in what already appeared to be a favorable draw with the Dallas Regional.

All of it was good enough to get the Canes to the College World Series, but once there Miami simply didn’t have it, never found a groove and was humbled in a hurry.

While it’s impossible to question the motivation of a team that racked up 50 wins, it’s impossible to deny that Miami’s players and coaches both came off a bit lifeless over it’s five-day span in Omaha.

Being a glutton for punishment, the losses against Florida hovered on the DVR for days (as did the win against Arkansas), so these aren’t the thoughts of a sane fan who only endured one viewing.

For those with the stomach for it; rewatch those at-bats—chasing pitches outside the strike zone and no patience at the plate. Beyond that, passive and reactive, never once taking control or seizing momentum of big-time, in-game situations.

Some have cited the players-take-on-the-personality-of-their-coaches card post-Omaha, putting the blame on a less-than-animated Jim Morris for another rough run at the College World Series and wondering if his time has passed.

It’s not the nature of this blog to call for firings or hirings, but the Canes are certainly in one of those quirky coach-in-waiting situations; everyone biding time and forever uncomfortable until that eventual changing of the guard takes place.

Morris signed a three-year contract extension in summer 2014, which will run through the 2018 season—three more years, rounding off a quarter century that the former Georgia Tech leader has been at the helm of Miami’s program.

Upon Morris’ retirement, assistant coach Gino DiMare will finally get his crack at doing things his way; after 19 years on the job. DiMare’s days with the Canes date back to his freshman season in 1989, where he still ranks first in career games played (243).

When 2019 finally rolls around, DiMare will be three decades removed from first stepping foot on UM’s campus and will be knocking on the door of 50 before ever getting his first crack as being a head coach.

While all of that could play out in serendipitous fashion for the Canes; hometown kid, former player and long-time assistant finally gets moment in the sun—it doesn’t make the next three years any less awkward, or paint any clearer a picture regarding the immediate future of Miami baseball.

If anything it feels like self-imposed limbo—a coaching legend at the tail end of his career, while a long-time assistant watches the clock tick for three more years, biding his time.

While no coaching changes are in the air for the Hurricanes, a handful of players have already moved on.

Thompson recently signed with the New York Mets and reported to their minor league organization days back, while Eusebio officially signed with Seattle and Suarez is locking things down with San Francisco. Iskenderian is expected to sign with Milwaukee, while Kennedy, the lone senior in the starting line-up is headed to Los Angeles.

Come January, Miami will start their bid for another run at Omaha.

The Canes could boast enough talent to find their way back, but it’ll be tough to expect different results based on a decade’s worth of struggles and inability to scrap out of the losers bracket.

For the next few years, at least. Or so it’d seem.

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