The second-seeded Miami Hurricanes channeled some old school post-season mojo and trounced the third-ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys, 7-0 in the opening round of the Louisville Regional on Friday afternoon.
UM had to do it with veteran head coach Jim Morris laid up and long-time assistant and former player Gino DiMare at the helm and guess what? It worked.
Now isn’t the time to rile up the anti-Morris crowd. It’s simply to point out that in baseball, sometimes you benefit from a shake-up. Slumping teams come alive out of nowhere. Ice cold bats find a way to get hot. Pitching that was all over the place becomes laser-focused.
For Miami, this underachieving team needed a spark and while a long-time head coach getting pneumonia isn’t ideal, the fact that an seasoned assistant was given the reigns and the team responded – that is something to ride out, hoping that the mojo continues.
Miami finished 35-21 overall and 14-16 in the ACC, playing some downright awful baseball the final month of the regular season, dropping series at Boston College and to lowly Wake Forest. Some persepective; the Eagles were 0-20 in conference play before playing the Canes and were 2-21 by day’s end Sunday.
The ACC Tournament proved to be a flop, as well. Miami took the final home series against Georgia Tech, but dropped game three, 10-1 before losing to North Carolina, 10-1 game one in Durham. From there, a 7-1 beating at the hands of North Carolina State.
Last Saturday morning as Miami prepared to take on Clemson, Morris fell ill and was hospitalized. DiMare took over and the Canes earned a 7-0 win over the Tigers and yesterday, in the Louisville Regional, the identical score against the Cowboys.
Oklahoma State threw ace Jason Hursh at Miami, whose fastball tops out at 98 m.p.h. and on paper looked to be a threat against a slumping Hurricanes’ offense, yet UM went on a twelve-hit tear and chases Hursh in the fifth inning after he’d given up seven hits and five runs (three earned), only striking out two.
UM got on the board in the bottom of the second, courtesy of a Garrett Kennedy solo shot and picked up another in the fourth with some clutch play.
Chantz Mack opened the inning drawing a walk on a 3-2 count and reached second after a David Thompson sacrifice fly. Brad Fieger singled to right, advancing Mack third and Kennedy picked up his second RBI of the day when a single to center brought Mack home.
The bottom of the fifth was all Miami as the Canes blew it open with a four-run outpouring. Tyler Palmer opened the inning with a double down the line and Alexander Hernandez reached first on a throwing error after a bunt that plated Palmer. Mack then grounded out to second, but moved Hernandez to third. A Thompson single brought Hernandez home and had the Canes ahead, 4-0 with one out, which finally chased Hursh from the game.
Jon Perrin entered for Hursh, forcing Fieger to pop up to second for the inning’s second out and with Kennedy at the plate, Thompson stole second and reached home after Kennedy singled. Chris Barr then singled to left, moving Kennedy to second and a Brandon Lopez single to right plated Kennedy. Dale Carey then struck out looking, but the damage had been done and Miami led, 6-0.
The game’s final run came in the bottom of the sixth when Palmer reached on a bunt, advanced to second on a ground out by Hernandez and scored a batter later when Mack singled up the middle.
Defensively, it was Chris Diaz who threw a gem for Miami, lasting seven innings, giving up three hits, striking out ten and giving up no runs. He was eventually replaced by Javi Salas, who went one, striking out one and giving up a hit. Jace Herrera closed it out for the Canes, striking out one and giving up no hits in the ninth. As a unit, UM pitchers gave up four hits on the day and completely clamped down on the Cowboys.
The win sets up a winner’s bracket showdown between second-ranked Miami and top-seed Louisville on Saturday at 5pm ET. The host Cardinals knocked off fourth-seeded Bowling-Green, 8-3 on Friday night. Louisville finished the regular season 47-12 and has won 17 of its past 19 games.
Cards ace Jeff Thompson (10-1, 2.09 era) will be on the mound while the Canes will throw lefty Bryan Radziewski (9-2, 1.49 era). Thompson, a second-team All-American and Golden Spikes Award semifinalist, will be a challenge for Miami’s offense, having allowed zero runs in seven of fourteen outings this season. Radziewski is also a second-team All-American and UM’s most consistent pitcher this season.
The winner of Miami / Louisville is off until 4pm ET on Sunday, while the loser will face the winner of Saturday’s losers bracket game between Oklahoma State and Bowling Green. The winner there would then have to beat the Hurricanes / Cardinals victor twice to advance to the Super Regionals.
The Miami vs. Louisville showdown will be broadcast live on ESPN2 at 5pm ET on Saturday.