This weeks polls are out and the consensus seems to be that the University of Miami baseball team still does not suck. Most polls dropped the Canes a spot or two, which makes sense considering they did lose the series. This is a far cry from many fans reactions after the Canes dropped two of three from the University of Florida this past weekend.
The scores of the games? 4-3 Gators, 7-2 Canes, 2-1 Gators, respectively.
As bad as everyone wants to jump on Jim Morris and claim he can’t coach anymore, or exaggerate the point that we just do not have any good athletic teams at this University anymore, people need to sit back and understand the game of baseball, especially early season college baseball. For starters, this Miami team was playing in Gainesville against a top five ballclub. The Canes dropped two games by one run each against a top five team but you’d of thought Miami just got swept by the University of Phoenix online. Even the really good teams lose series and midweek games. Last years Vanderbilt team, which ended up winning the College World Series, lost series to Mississippi State, Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas A&M, and South Carolina. That is five series losses. Five. I think they may have put those losses in the past. Now I am not saying this Canes team is 2014 Vanderbilt, but what I am saying is that even the best teams lose series.
And how about the positives? All the doomsday talk has hidden the fact that there were several things that came out of this series that were good. What about pitching that held Florida to eight runs combined over the weekend? And that is without ace Andrew Suarez throwing. How about freakin’ Ryan Otero?!!!!! Or what about Zack Collins bomb that is still going? We needed to see that power that will hopefully take off from here with the first one out of the way. What about Thomas Woodrey and Enrique Sosa? These guys pitched great.
It is obvious that we need the middle of our lineup to hit. If Collins-Thompson-Abreu aren’t hitting then we are going to struggle. On top of that, our table setters in Chester and Eusebio need to get on base. We have some big time run producers hitting in this lineup and our 1-2 hitters need to set the tone. This is obviously a big deal for most squads but Miami specifically relies on those really big bats to produce rather than being a quick, scrappy team. As the season goes on I think we will see this improve, especially since Chester was at prom a few months ago and Eusebio is just now becoming an everyday starter.
I saw people posting and tweeting that Miami baseball would never be good again, or that we will now be a number two seed somewhere in regionals. Talk about overreaction! Like I said in a post earlier, Miami took two of three from Florida last season and Florida ended up getting a national seed. There is a good chance that both Florida and Miami could end up national seeds. The schedule is a double edge sword for the Hurricanes. Sure we have to travel to Louisville, UNC, and Virginia, while getting FSU and Georgia Tech at home, which obviously puts a higher chance of losing, but we also have plenty of opportunities to get right into the national seed discussion with wins. Let’s see how this Miami team responds before we drop a hernia in frustration.
Now if we lose two out of three to Wright State, I may come back with a hernia.
Go Canes.
The scores of the games? 4-3 Gators, 7-2 Canes, 2-1 Gators, respectively.
As bad as everyone wants to jump on Jim Morris and claim he can’t coach anymore, or exaggerate the point that we just do not have any good athletic teams at this University anymore, people need to sit back and understand the game of baseball, especially early season college baseball. For starters, this Miami team was playing in Gainesville against a top five ballclub. The Canes dropped two games by one run each against a top five team but you’d of thought Miami just got swept by the University of Phoenix online. Even the really good teams lose series and midweek games. Last years Vanderbilt team, which ended up winning the College World Series, lost series to Mississippi State, Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas A&M, and South Carolina. That is five series losses. Five. I think they may have put those losses in the past. Now I am not saying this Canes team is 2014 Vanderbilt, but what I am saying is that even the best teams lose series.
And how about the positives? All the doomsday talk has hidden the fact that there were several things that came out of this series that were good. What about pitching that held Florida to eight runs combined over the weekend? And that is without ace Andrew Suarez throwing. How about freakin’ Ryan Otero?!!!!! Or what about Zack Collins bomb that is still going? We needed to see that power that will hopefully take off from here with the first one out of the way. What about Thomas Woodrey and Enrique Sosa? These guys pitched great.
It is obvious that we need the middle of our lineup to hit. If Collins-Thompson-Abreu aren’t hitting then we are going to struggle. On top of that, our table setters in Chester and Eusebio need to get on base. We have some big time run producers hitting in this lineup and our 1-2 hitters need to set the tone. This is obviously a big deal for most squads but Miami specifically relies on those really big bats to produce rather than being a quick, scrappy team. As the season goes on I think we will see this improve, especially since Chester was at prom a few months ago and Eusebio is just now becoming an everyday starter.
I saw people posting and tweeting that Miami baseball would never be good again, or that we will now be a number two seed somewhere in regionals. Talk about overreaction! Like I said in a post earlier, Miami took two of three from Florida last season and Florida ended up getting a national seed. There is a good chance that both Florida and Miami could end up national seeds. The schedule is a double edge sword for the Hurricanes. Sure we have to travel to Louisville, UNC, and Virginia, while getting FSU and Georgia Tech at home, which obviously puts a higher chance of losing, but we also have plenty of opportunities to get right into the national seed discussion with wins. Let’s see how this Miami team responds before we drop a hernia in frustration.
Now if we lose two out of three to Wright State, I may come back with a hernia.
Go Canes.
