Miami baseball head coach Gino DiMare discusses ACC Baseball Championship ahead of opening contest
If Miami Hurricanes baseball head coach Gino DiMare had to define this year’s squad in one word, it would be “resilient,” a phrase he borrowed from Miami men’s basketball coach Jim Larrañaga but which appears to be the most appropriate response.
Throughout the season, the Hurricanes have demonstrated their resilience with four walk-off triumphs and a handful of come-from-behind victories, demonstrating to the country that they may be down but never out.
“I stole that line from coach Larrañaga,” DiMare said jokingly. “I said it to the players that I heard coach L say that during the basketball season a little bit at the end when he kept saying the team is resilient. That team was resilient, and I used it in certain occasions with our players. I think that it helps that we have some veteran guys.
“You can have a young team that is resilient, but we have veteran guys that were on this field last year when the thing ended, and it was tough. That was a tough one to swallow because we had a great situation and the games were won late. And normally we win when we win late, and we didn’t in both games, and I think that sits with them, no doubt. But I think that it also helps the fact that you have a good offense that can hit the long ball, score quickly, and get runs in a fast way. I think that helps the guys have confidence that no lead is safe in terms of against us, and so I think that’s a good word (resilient) to use for our guys.”
Heading into the ACC Baseball Championship Thursday in Durham, North Carolina, DiMare and his Miami squad are ready to get things going in postseason play after closing out the season with their sixth straight series win after downing Duke.
“Well, this is the most exciting time of the year,” DiMare said. “Finished the regular season with a great series; probably the most exciting series all year, especially with the comeback on Friday, and it made it even more special winning the rubber match game.
Miami will open the ACC tournament against NC State, a team they beat 2-1 earlier in the season. Despite having notched the regular-season series victory, DiMare understands that this Wolfpack team may look a lot different than they did in March.
“If I had to guess, Elliot Avent teams normally play better at the end of the season,” DiMare said. “Here they are in the same situation they have been in sometimes, where they’re fighting for their lives to get into the tournament. It’ll be 8,000, 9,000, or however many that stadium holds; there’s not an open seat there, and it’s all red. Although we took 2 of 3, that was a long time ago. They’re a different team, and we’re a different team as well. I would think they’re going to be playing really well.”
“It’s going to be a lot of NC State fans and, of course, Duke because it’s their home field, but our guys need to be focused on NC State. We haven’t played our best baseball in the ACC tournaments in recent years, and I want our guys to be focused and concentrated on the tournament and nothing else. Really just focused on NC State because, to me, that’s the most important game.”
When it’s all said and done, regardless of this week’s results, DiMare hopes his Miami team leaves Durham better than they arrived.
“No matter what happens with Duke and NC State, we need to be playing good baseball; that’s the bottom line. I don’t want to come back from there on a backward note, in terms of us not playing well or not playing good baseball.”
The post Miami baseball head coach Gino DiMare discusses ACC Baseball Championship ahead of opening contest appeared first on On3.
