Thirty-six games in and the Miami Hurricanes are sitting at 27-9 and ranked No. 13, having picked up four straight wins. UM swept No. 21 North Carolina this past weekend after whooping Florida Gulf Coast, 9-0 last week, days after dropping the series at Virginia Tech.
At a distance, Miami has been good/not great in 2010. Swept Rutgers out the gate, but suffered an uncharacteristic loss a week later with a chance to close out Manhattan. After winning the first two games by a combined score of 25-4, the Canes were thumped 12-7 in the series finale.
A midweek 15-2 pounding of South Florida was followed by a 1-2 run against Florida the following weekend. The following week, a 19-2 beat down of Central Florida, followed by a 2-2 run the next four games, losing the opener to Boston College and the dropping one the following weekend against Fordham. Fourteen home games in just over a month and Miami had already dropped five at Mark Light.
A recent Manny Navarro blog was of the opinion that the ’10 Canes are in much better shape than last year’s squad. He wrote the article nine games ago when both teams had matching 20-7 records.
The current Canes were coming off a sweep of Wake Forest, in what would become a seven-game win streak, before dropping the series in Blacksburg and losing their then No. 9 ranking. The ’09 Canes were ranked No. 2 last season when 20-7.
Navarro cites improved team chemistry, a deeper/healthier/consistent starting rotation and a stronger offensive attack as reasons for a deeper run this post-season.
As Miami runs towards the regionals, the schedule toughens up. The Canes got the lesser ACC foes out the gate, but closes strong with this year’s heavy hitters – No. 6 Florida State, No. 4 Georgia Tech and No. 2 Virginia. After winning the ACC in 2008, Miami was run out after three games last spring and the March towards Omaha ended in the Gainesville regional where the Gators marched on.
After an early exit from Rosenblatt as the top seed two years back, and a punking at the hands of an arch-rival last season, this Miami squad should have chemistry and better be hungry. The window for the upperclassmen is closing.
Sunday’s win over the Tar Heels could prove to be one of those season-defining moments (or at worst, a hell of an ending to an exciting game).
Cut short due to curfew, Miami entered the bottom of the eight down 7-5, knowing it was the final inning.
Zeke DeVoss cut it to 7-6 with a lead off home run and back-to-back walks put Frankie Ratcliff and Scott Lawson on first and second. Yasmani Grandal singled up the middle, loading the bases – but the Canes suffered a setback when Harold Martinez grounded into a double play. Lawson move to third and Ratcliff scored, tying the game with two outs. One pitch later Lawson scored on a walk-off wild pitch; Miami’s second this year.
Lawson emphatically slapped home plate, later saying emotions got the better of him, knowing how bad his team needed this sweep. On paper that might not mean much, but for a team looking to bring it together during a tough stretch, the emotion showed could go a long way. The post-game, home plate pile up looked like something out of a Super Regional – not a mid-April conference game.
If you haven’t tuned into UM baseball this year, now might be the time to start paying attention as there’s a good chance this team has turned the corner. With the remaining meat on this schedule, Miami will be Omaha-tested before conference championship week. Three top six teams down the stretch – that’s as close to a simulate College World Series experiment as you’ll get during the regular season.
Bethune-Cookman on Tuesday night and then it’s off to Tallahassee this weekend for a three-game stretch against Florida State. Tune in at 6pm ET.
In conference play, Canes are 14-4 while FSU is 12-6. FSU lost to Duke and Florida Gulf Coast last week, yet are ranked far ahead of the Canes. That just isn't right, especially since the Canes were 4-0last week, beating Florida Gulf Coast and sweeping N.C.
Only one of the 5 polls has the Canes ahead of FSU. Similar schedules, only FSU plays more cupcakes. We need to win this series to show the pollsters once & for all, who's the best in college baseball. (I have season tickets and travel 2 hours r.t. to each game) If you haven't been to a Canes baseball game, it's the best sports venue in S.F. for your sports entertainment $'s.
Hey- I appreciate all of the info you give to a Cane at heart here in Atlanta. How bout doing a post on the latest in recruiting? I know we only have 2 commmits as of now, what other possibilities do you know of? Thanks!
-Bert
Looks like this year's Canes are going to be similar to last year. Start strong and then fizzle. I thought this team had more talent than last year? Last night they blew a 7-2 lead. Today another 9th inning win for FSU. Sad display.
Jake, Frustrating weekend, but time will tell. Losing two late at Florida State is nothing to be embarrassed of… but it's very disheartening.
A few big series left, the ACC Championships and then the regionals. Let's see where the rest of the year goes. You can't really compare the two teams until we see how the '10 Canes do in the post-season.
Should Miami find a way to Omaha (or at least the Super Regional), it will make losing the series in Tallahassee virtually meaningless.
allCanes – true, time will tell. But UM has lost series with Florida, VaTech and FSU, and split with teams like UCF Fordham (not exactly the top of the College Baseball world). I admit to not following the "ins and outs" of college baseball as closely as football, but UM seems to be padding it wins with lesser competition and losing to the big boys. UNC and Wake are down this year for example. UM will have another change against GaTech and UVA, but their past performance against top-tier competition does not inspire hope. And barring an ACC Championship, I think losing the FSU series cost them the ability to host a Regional, since I'm guessing that FSU and UF will be hosting. You're right, however, that the games must be played and the opportunity is still there to win out … but I'm still thinking that is unlikely. Here's hoping I'm wrong!