Hello, Baseball Caniacs:
To help get U ready for Tuesday night's game vs FAU at The Light (6 pm) here's some light reading for U.
But before we look ahead to the Owls, let's look back a bit to Sunday's series-clinching win at NCST.
Here are some post-game quotes, courtesy of UM:
Coach Gino on Winning Game 3 vs NCST
“We played a clean game,” head coach Gino DiMare said. “We played very solid defense, we pitched well – [Victor] Mederos was okay today, but the bullpen was outstanding the last two days with guys like Ben [Wanger] and [Anthony] Arguelles and [Carson] Palmquist — and, of course, we hit the ball today. It was a great team effort. It was nice to see us have a big inning because we haven’t had too many big innings and put a bunch of hits together this year and it was really nice to see us hit the ball out of the ballpark. We need to get some more power and thump in our lineup, which is something we should have, so it was good to see that today.”
YoYo Morales on Hitting the first of 2 HRs in the Game
“I just wanted to make contact and not try to do too much,” Morales said. “I had to get on base, no matter what, to get everyone going. It was an amazing feeling. I was pumped the whole way rounding the bases knowing I just tied the game with one swing of the bat.”
BTW, Morales has been Miami’s top hitter in 2021, leading the Hurricanes with a .359 batting average and three homers while his nine RBI are tied for the team-high with Christian Del Castillo.
Adrian Del Castillo on His First HR of the Year
“It felt great to finally pull through in a great situation to give us the lead,” Del Castillo said. “The season hasn’t been going my way lately but I’m not worried because if it isn’t me, my guys will pick me up.”
Sunday marked Miami’s first back-to-back-to-back homers since Randy Batista, Michael Burns, and Romy Gonzalez all went deep in the ninth inning at Boston College on April, 29. 2017. Morales became the first Miami freshman with a two-homer game since Adrian Del Castillo hit two in a postseason game against Central Michigan on May 31, 2019.
Anthony Vilar at the Plate
“I feel really good at the plate right now,” Vilar said. “At Florida, I was hitting the ball hard and they just weren’t falling so, I just kept the same approach, stayed confident in my swing and my approach, and just try to hit the ball hard. We knew that eventually, we were going to get our bats going. There’s still some guys that haven’t picked it up, but we know eventually we all will and once we all connect in the lineup, it’s going to be hard to stop us.”
Joran Lala on Why the Canes Were Struggling at the Plate
“At the beginning of the season, we were struggling a lot,” said Lala. “Our coaches told us we were taking too many pitches and that we should start being more aggressive. I think this past weekend, we were pretty aggressive in the box and I think hopefully we’ll just get better from here.
Coach G on Miami's Bats Coming Alive Scoring 5 Runs in the 6th
“It was nice to see us have a big inning because we haven’t had too many big innings and put a bunch of hits together this year and it was really nice to see us hit the ball out of the ballpark,” head coach Gino DiMare said following Sunday’s victory. “We need to get some more power and thump in our lineup, which is something we should have, so it was good to see that today.”
The winning pitcher was Anthony Arguelles came in and threw 1.1 shutout innings to earn his third win of the year.
CANES RECORD
By taking 2 of 3 games in Raleigh, we are now 5-4 overall and 3-3 in the ACC.
Now, on to...
No. 25 FAU
Overall Record: 8-2
Home: 5-2
Road: 3-0
I know there is a tendency by some of this board to dismiss FAU, FIU, and Florida Gulf Coast (FGCU) as less than competitive foes and that we should beat them mercifully every game. That's fool's gold if U ask me and we need to look no further than last year.
When the pandemic ended our season we were 12-4. U know who claimed 3 of those losses, the Gators. The fourth loss? At FAU by the score of 11-2. To date, the Owls are 8-2 and 3-0 on the road, including a 3-2 win at Florida in 10 innings. C-USA teams aren't supposed to be any good vs Power 5 teams, right?
Wrong.
POLLS
Before U roll your eyes when thinking about the Owls, check this out:
Graphic Courtesy: FAU (link)
They opened their season against UCF, coached by former Cane Greg Lovelady. FAU won 2 of 3 but the big story was game 2 a 20-16 win for the Owls. In that game, true FR Caleb Pendleton made it on Sports Center's Top 10 Plays by hitting two grand slams...in one inning... to fuel a 12-run second inning.
BTW, the next weekend, the same when we hosted VT, UCF went to Oxford to play the then-No. 1 Ole Miss Rebels. All the Knights did was win the first 2 games to take the series and they should have swept the Rebs in Game 3 had the home team not scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th to avoid total embarrassment.
Oh, and the team they beat last mid-week? Florida in Gainesville. In April 2019, the Owls beat us 6-4 in a midweek game so they're on a 2-game winning streak.
STARTING PITCHERS
FAU
Their website says they will pitch RHP TJ Stuart in his second start. His first was last week vs the Gators. He went 4 IP, 3 H, 2 R and 6 Ks.
UM
While I haven't seen anything yet from UM, the Owls' site said our starter will be FR RHP Jake Garland making his first start as a Hurricane. In 3 relief outings, he is 0-1, 8.64 ERA, with 4 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 8 K. In his last appearance in that Friday night debacle in Raleigh, he got roughed up 5 hits, 6 runs, 5 ER, 2 walks and 1 SO...all in 1.2 innings.
FINALLY
As we move on from NCST to FAU, a couple of final comments from Anthony Vilar and Jordan Lala on the importance of winning these midweek games:
Anthony Vilar
“A lot of the veteran guys have been talking after the games, telling everyone to stay strong, stay up in the dugout and have a lot of energy. A lot of times, it’s that energy and momentum that helps us win games so we’re just preaching that and trying to stay high energy and use our momentum to keep winning games.”
Jordan Lala
“Midweek games are huge. f you look back in 2019, we had a chance to host a regional and we didn’t get it done probably just because we lost a few midweek games that we should have won. Gino always emphasizes the midweek games and reminds us that we can’t take them lightly. Our midweek games are always tough and we’re going to have to get the job done.”
That's it, Caniacs (ain't this enough?). I hope to be back for the FAU game and then post some more baseball info for U later in the week leading up to our home ACC series with Wake Forest.
Go Canes!
To help get U ready for Tuesday night's game vs FAU at The Light (6 pm) here's some light reading for U.
But before we look ahead to the Owls, let's look back a bit to Sunday's series-clinching win at NCST.
Here are some post-game quotes, courtesy of UM:
Coach Gino on Winning Game 3 vs NCST
“We played a clean game,” head coach Gino DiMare said. “We played very solid defense, we pitched well – [Victor] Mederos was okay today, but the bullpen was outstanding the last two days with guys like Ben [Wanger] and [Anthony] Arguelles and [Carson] Palmquist — and, of course, we hit the ball today. It was a great team effort. It was nice to see us have a big inning because we haven’t had too many big innings and put a bunch of hits together this year and it was really nice to see us hit the ball out of the ballpark. We need to get some more power and thump in our lineup, which is something we should have, so it was good to see that today.”
YoYo Morales on Hitting the first of 2 HRs in the Game
“I just wanted to make contact and not try to do too much,” Morales said. “I had to get on base, no matter what, to get everyone going. It was an amazing feeling. I was pumped the whole way rounding the bases knowing I just tied the game with one swing of the bat.”
BTW, Morales has been Miami’s top hitter in 2021, leading the Hurricanes with a .359 batting average and three homers while his nine RBI are tied for the team-high with Christian Del Castillo.
Adrian Del Castillo on His First HR of the Year
“It felt great to finally pull through in a great situation to give us the lead,” Del Castillo said. “The season hasn’t been going my way lately but I’m not worried because if it isn’t me, my guys will pick me up.”
Sunday marked Miami’s first back-to-back-to-back homers since Randy Batista, Michael Burns, and Romy Gonzalez all went deep in the ninth inning at Boston College on April, 29. 2017. Morales became the first Miami freshman with a two-homer game since Adrian Del Castillo hit two in a postseason game against Central Michigan on May 31, 2019.
Anthony Vilar at the Plate
“I feel really good at the plate right now,” Vilar said. “At Florida, I was hitting the ball hard and they just weren’t falling so, I just kept the same approach, stayed confident in my swing and my approach, and just try to hit the ball hard. We knew that eventually, we were going to get our bats going. There’s still some guys that haven’t picked it up, but we know eventually we all will and once we all connect in the lineup, it’s going to be hard to stop us.”
Joran Lala on Why the Canes Were Struggling at the Plate
“At the beginning of the season, we were struggling a lot,” said Lala. “Our coaches told us we were taking too many pitches and that we should start being more aggressive. I think this past weekend, we were pretty aggressive in the box and I think hopefully we’ll just get better from here.
Coach G on Miami's Bats Coming Alive Scoring 5 Runs in the 6th
“It was nice to see us have a big inning because we haven’t had too many big innings and put a bunch of hits together this year and it was really nice to see us hit the ball out of the ballpark,” head coach Gino DiMare said following Sunday’s victory. “We need to get some more power and thump in our lineup, which is something we should have, so it was good to see that today.”
The winning pitcher was Anthony Arguelles came in and threw 1.1 shutout innings to earn his third win of the year.
CANES RECORD
By taking 2 of 3 games in Raleigh, we are now 5-4 overall and 3-3 in the ACC.
Now, on to...
No. 25 FAU
Overall Record: 8-2
Home: 5-2
Road: 3-0
I know there is a tendency by some of this board to dismiss FAU, FIU, and Florida Gulf Coast (FGCU) as less than competitive foes and that we should beat them mercifully every game. That's fool's gold if U ask me and we need to look no further than last year.
When the pandemic ended our season we were 12-4. U know who claimed 3 of those losses, the Gators. The fourth loss? At FAU by the score of 11-2. To date, the Owls are 8-2 and 3-0 on the road, including a 3-2 win at Florida in 10 innings. C-USA teams aren't supposed to be any good vs Power 5 teams, right?
Wrong.
POLLS
Before U roll your eyes when thinking about the Owls, check this out:
| Poll | FAU | Miami |
| D1Baseball | #20 | #8 |
| Perfect Game | #20 | #6 |
| USA TODAY Coaches | #21 (T) | #13 |
| NCBWA | #22 (T) | #8 |
| Baseball America | #25 | #5 |
| Collegiate Baseball (ranks 30) | #27 | #16 |
They opened their season against UCF, coached by former Cane Greg Lovelady. FAU won 2 of 3 but the big story was game 2 a 20-16 win for the Owls. In that game, true FR Caleb Pendleton made it on Sports Center's Top 10 Plays by hitting two grand slams...in one inning... to fuel a 12-run second inning.
BTW, the next weekend, the same when we hosted VT, UCF went to Oxford to play the then-No. 1 Ole Miss Rebels. All the Knights did was win the first 2 games to take the series and they should have swept the Rebs in Game 3 had the home team not scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th to avoid total embarrassment.
Oh, and the team they beat last mid-week? Florida in Gainesville. In April 2019, the Owls beat us 6-4 in a midweek game so they're on a 2-game winning streak.
STARTING PITCHERS
FAU
Their website says they will pitch RHP TJ Stuart in his second start. His first was last week vs the Gators. He went 4 IP, 3 H, 2 R and 6 Ks.
UM
While I haven't seen anything yet from UM, the Owls' site said our starter will be FR RHP Jake Garland making his first start as a Hurricane. In 3 relief outings, he is 0-1, 8.64 ERA, with 4 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 8 K. In his last appearance in that Friday night debacle in Raleigh, he got roughed up 5 hits, 6 runs, 5 ER, 2 walks and 1 SO...all in 1.2 innings.
FINALLY
As we move on from NCST to FAU, a couple of final comments from Anthony Vilar and Jordan Lala on the importance of winning these midweek games:
Anthony Vilar
“A lot of the veteran guys have been talking after the games, telling everyone to stay strong, stay up in the dugout and have a lot of energy. A lot of times, it’s that energy and momentum that helps us win games so we’re just preaching that and trying to stay high energy and use our momentum to keep winning games.”
Jordan Lala
“Midweek games are huge. f you look back in 2019, we had a chance to host a regional and we didn’t get it done probably just because we lost a few midweek games that we should have won. Gino always emphasizes the midweek games and reminds us that we can’t take them lightly. Our midweek games are always tough and we’re going to have to get the job done.”
That's it, Caniacs (ain't this enough?). I hope to be back for the FAU game and then post some more baseball info for U later in the week leading up to our home ACC series with Wake Forest.
Go Canes!
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