Top-ranked Hurricanes Swept by Familiar Foe
by Simon Lehrer
CORAL GABLES, FL. (2/23/20) –– #1 Miami. The phrase spread like wildfire around Coral Gables for a week. With the 2020 season just one weekend old, Canes baseball was already at the top of the mountain. They had a right to look down on every single other team in college baseball.
Now, that right is gone as quickly as it came.
The Hurricanes (4-3) were swept by bitter rival Florida (8-0), failing to defend their first Number 1 ranking since 2016. There was a massive amount of hype coming into this weekend, as well as sincere optimism, with Miami looking to break out of their recent slump against the Gators. Coming into the weekend, the Canes had lost eight of their last ten games against UF dating back to 2017. After a three-game sweep, it’s 11 losses in 13 matchups.
“Thank God it’s early in the season,” said coach Geno DiMare after the 5-3 loss on Sunday. “Bottom line is we got a long way to go.”
This sweep was a harsh reality check for the Canes, but they held their own against No. 2 Florida. Each of the weekend’s first two games went into extra innings, with a capacity crowd filling Alex Rodriguez Park. Baseball Hall of Famer (and former Florida Marlin) Mike Piazza threw out the first pitch on Friday. He was followed by the ballpark’s namesake, Alex Rodriguez, who threw it on Saturday night. Both nights sold out hours before the game started.
That hype had died down a little by the series finale on Sunday, especially after two losses. Florida took the first game 2-1 in eleven innings, and won game two 7-4 in the tenth. Both teams had a chance to win late on Sunday, but Miami center fielder Tony Jenkins struck out looking to put an exclamation point on the Gators’ sweep. Just one pitch earlier, Jenkins hit a towering fly ball that cleared the fence and would have tied the game –– but it went foul by just a few feet.
“[Saturday] night we were a strike away from winning the game, and it could have flipped very easily with us up 2-0,” DiMare reflected, summing up the weekend after Sunday’s loss. “But the bottom line is, they got a lot of hits when they needed ‘em, we didn’t. With runners in scoring position, we seemed to not ever get the big hit, and they got ‘em.”
It was the Gators first sweep in Coral Gables since 2012. The teams play alternating home series each year, with Miami taking one out of three games in Gainesville last year. Both the Gators and Hurricanes failed to reach the College World Series last year, with Florida’s last appearance in 2018 and Miami’s in 2016.
“We felt like each game, it could have gone either way,” said Canes third baseman Raymond Gil, who drove home all three runs on Sunday. Gil hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning to put Miami within a run. “It’s a long season...tomorrow we turn the page, get back to work Tuesday, and give a good effort.”
DiMare echoed Gil’s desire to keep moving and not linger on this weekend’s results.
“It’s disappointing, obviously to lose and get swept,” DiMare said. “You gotta suck it up, turn the page, and get ready for next week.”
Miami’s next few matchups should help the team get back on their feet. None of their upcoming opponents are ranked, with a midweek game against USF, another home weekend series versus Towson, and a road trip next week to nearby FAU. The Canes will not alter their rotation, meaning Brian Van Belle, Chris McMahon, and Slade Cecconi will all continue to pitch in that order each weekend. The team’s next conference series comes against Pittsburgh, also at home, and Miami’s next game outside the state of Florida isn’t until a road trip to Virginia Tech on March 13th. That should give Miami an opportunity to regroup – and reset – with the team still fully confident they deserved that #1 ranking, despite holding onto it for just one weekend.
“The mood of the locker room’s been very somber, as it should be,” DiMare acknowledged. “Like in anything in life, you better turn the page quick and move on, or you’re going to be in for a long year.”
Miami’s year is just getting started, and they expect it to be a longer season than the last. Hopes of a College World Series have not been dashed just yet.
The Canes, now ranked seventh, take on USF at Alex Rodriguez Park this Wednesday. First pitch is at 3:00 p.m.
Must-Win Week for Hobbled Canes
by Simon Lehrer
CORAL GABLES, FL. (1/26/20) –– Miami basketball will look to snap out of a four-game losing streak on Tuesday, as the Canes host Virginia Tech at the Watsco Center. It has been a tough couple of weeks for the Hurricanes (10-9, 2-7 ACC), who have been plagued with injuries along with four consecutive losses to NC State, Florida State, Duke, and North Carolina.
Good news for Miami is that their toughest stretch of the ACC schedule is finally over. The Hurricanes open up another crucial week of conference play against Virginia Tech (14-6, 5-4 ACC), before traveling to Pittsburgh next Saturday.
The absence of Chris Lykes has been Miami’s biggest problem. Averaging a team-high 15.7 points, Lykes legitimately has the power to keep the Canes in any game. Yet in their road trip to North Carolina, the point guard was a non-factor. He suffered a groin issue during Miami’s loss to Duke, which made him mostly ineffective in that game. The injury also forced Lykes to sit out against the Tar Heels.
The Seminoles and Blue Devils were ranked 8th and 9th respectively, always bound to be a tough matchup. Yet Miami looked more overmatched against the two unranked teams, NC State and UNC, which is some cause for concern. Both games were blowouts.
Miami was without another star guard on Saturday – shooting guard Kameron McGusty. The junior transfer has been dealing with back spasms, and is listed as day-to-day, along with Lykes. The Canes success over this coming week will rely heavily on whether the team can get their two top scorers back.
“Neither one of them felt good after the [Duke] game,” Hurricanes coach Jim Larrañaga said following the loss to UNC. “It just made sense to rest them...neither one is close to 100 percent.”
The Hurricanes are now 10-9 overall, but are second to last in their conference due to a brutal 2-7 record in ACC play. They can manage to stay in the March Madness picture with a strong week against Virginia Tech and Pitt, but NC State and Florida State follow right after – two difficult rematches for the Hurricanes.
The Hokies and Hurricanes will meet for the first time this year on Tuesday night. Virginia Tech comes in to Tuesday night’s matchup unranked, but with an impressive 14-6 overall record. Miami will travel to Blacksburg for a rematch in a few weeks, on February 19th.
Freshmen Isaiah Wong and Harlond Beverly made their first career start against North Carolina, in place of Lykes and McGusty. If the two star guards are sidelined for at least another game, both freshmen will likely take center stage at the Watsco Center.
The game tips off Tuesday evening, at 8 P.M. local time. Miami’s injury report against Virginia Tech will likely be announced by shootaround tomorrow morning.