ANALYSIS: Closer look at opponents in the Miami Hurricanes baseball regional
The Miami baseball team is hosting regionals this coming weekend, and we take a closer look at the opponents coming to town:
NO. 2 TEXAS (38-20)
Texas will be a tough out. The Longhorns were ranked No. 20 before falling to Kansas State in the Big 12 championship May 25.
Texas bats .297 as a team with 85 homers, and there are six starters that bat over .300 – Peyton Powell (.358, 10 HR, 43 RBI), Dylan Campbell (.341, 12 HR, 44 RBI), Jared Thomas (.333, 48 runs scored), Porter Brown (.332, 12 HR), Garret Guillemette (.310, 11 HR) and Eric Kennedy (.302, 16 HR).
So there is power and solid hitting.
The pitching?
Opponents bat .242 with 33 homers.
The starting rotation is Lucas Gordon (15 starts, 2.55 ERA, 6-1), Lebarron Johnson, Jr. (11 starts, 2.82 ERA, 7-3) and in the final series of the regular season Texas used Tanner Witt (8.22 ERA, 2-1, 4 starts) as the No. 3 starter. Travis Sthele has started 10 games for Texas but struggled with a 3-5 record and 5.68 ERA.
There are nine different players with saves on the team led by Zane Morehouse (5 saves, 5.76 ERA) and Charlie Hurley (3 saves, 4.01 ERA). A key for Miami when it faces Texas will be to get to a shaky bullpen … and get some solid starting pitching against a good hitting team.
NO. 3 LOUISIANA (40-22)
The Rajin’ Cajuns enjoyed a strong year and most recently lost to No. 16 Southern Miss in the Sun Belt Conference Championship game, 6-2.
A notable win for the team? That would be against then No.1-ranked LSU April 18, 8-5. But the team’s 5-4 over the last nine games, so not really playing its best baseball.
The Rajin’ Cajuns bat .288 as a team with 66 home runs in the 62 games. The offensive leaders: Kyle DeBarge (.370, 6 HR), Heath Hood (.336, 6 HR), Julian Brock (.318, team high 11 HR, team high 62 RBI), Carson Roccaforte (.309, 6 HR), John Taylor (.302, 7 HR) and Max Marusak (.265, 10 HR).
Opposing teams bat .246 against Louisiana with 65 home runs.
The starting rotation consists of Jackson Nezuh (17 starts, 9-5, 6.14 ERA) and Jake Hammond (11 starts, 3.78 ERA, 3-3), with five other pitchers starting four or more games on the season. Toward the end of the year it was Carson Fluno (6 starts, 3-1, 3 saves, 4.47) getting starts.
Six players have two or more saves out of the bullpen led by Blake Marshall (5 saves, 3-1 record, 4.36 ERA).
NO. 4 MAINE (32-19)
Miami’s first order of business at the Coral Gables Regional will be dispatching Maine, which won its first conference title since 2011 by winning the America East with a 6-1 victory over Binghamton.
And yes, 2011 was the last time Maine was in the NCAA Tournament.
A common opponent? Well, the Black Bears faced Pittsburgh in the opening series of the year and took two of the three games; Miami also won two of three vs. the Panthers.
This is a team that’s won its last seven games, although at a much different level of play with all in conference.
The team has a .293 batting average with 83 homers in 51 games. Miami pitchers will need to be wary of Jeremiah Jenkins, Quinn McDaniel and Jake Raines in particular.
Jenkins has a team-high 20 homers and is batting .378 while McDaniel has a .355 average and 13 homers. Rainess is hitting .317 with 16 homers. One other starter bats above .300: Connor Goodman (.320, 2 HR).
On the mound it’s a team that has opponents batting .257 with 48 homers. The starters at the conference tournament games were Colin Fitzgerald, Caleb Leys and Gianni Gambardella. Gambardella has the best ERA of starters on the team 2.91) and has four starts and nine relief appearances. He has a 6-3 record with two saves. Fitzgerald has started 14 games and has a 4.48 ERA and 6-1 record; Leys has a 4.30 ERA and 5-0 record. Noah Lewis has also started 13 games and has a 7-1 record and 4.41 ERA.
The team’s closer is Justin Baeyens, who has eight saves and a 3-3 record with a 4.81 ERA.
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