Hello Caniacs....
Well, on top a revolting loss 2 days ago to Columbia, we face a BIG task this weekend with No. 5 NCST coming to The Light.
TEAM RECORDS
NCST: 20-1, 5-1/ACC
Miami: 15-6 overall, 3-3/ACC, 12-2 at home, 3-4 on the road; we're on a 3-game losing streak
The 'Pack lost their first game of the season last Sunday at FSU. They won the first 2 games to take the series including the Friday night opener, 16-0! Guys, that just doesn't happen at Dick Howser Stadium, although the Gates put 20 on the Noles a couple of weeks ago in Gainesville.
A brief look back at our last 3 games/Ls:
Game 2: UNC 9, UM 3
Outhit: 10-5
Errors: We had 1, UNC 0
SO: 7x to their 5x
LOB: they left 8, we left NONE.
Pitchers: we used 4, they used 2.
Game 3: UNC 8, UM 5
Outhit: 10-7
Errors: We had 2, UNC 1
SO: 3x to their 9x
LOB: they left 9, we left 5
Pitchers: Both teams used 4
Game 2 (Game 1 rained out) Columbia 4, UM 2
Outhit: 9-6
Errors: We had 2, they had 3 in the 1st inning
SO: 4x to their 8x
LOB: they left 9, we left 7
Pitchers: we used 4, they used 9
The UNC series was a carbon copy of the weekend at Florida. We won Friday's opener, lost the 2nd game, both 9-3, and lost the rubber match on Sunday, 4-1 vs UF and 8-5 vs UNC.
The loss to Columbia on Wednesday night at home was unexpected and frankly, embarrassing. Just read what Coach G had to say in his post-game press conference (my bold):
COACH G SAID IT
"I don't know exactly what they're thinking coming out and playing like that," (head coach Gino) DiMare said. "They were forewarned before the game about these midweek games and we know anything can happen in baseball. We didn't even compete. It's embarrassing for me as a head coach because I never thought I'd have to say that about a team of mine that wouldn't come out at least to compete but we didn't."
"Whatever word you want to use: flat, laid back, nonchalant," DiMare said of the Hurricanes. "Just very disappointing. Not what we want to see from our team."
"I don't ever feel like we had any momentum," DiMare said. "They gave us the runs early. We didn't really do anything to deserve to get them. They just made errors. I just never felt like there was life in our team today. I don't know why."
"I don't really have anything positive to say about the game," DiMare said. "It just was flat from the get-go. The only inning we got something going was in that eighth inning with first and third and Toral hits a missile right at the first baseman and it's a double play. That's part of the game. That's the only inning that I felt like we did anything because we hit three balls pretty hard in a row but that was it."
Regardless, U have to hand it to Columbia's HC. His pitching strategy was brilliant: He used 9 pitchers, one per inning, to keep us off balance so we never saw the same P twice. Had the first scheduled game not been rained out he probably could not have done this.
No matter, it still goes down as a loss to a team with a losing record and a team we should have beaten. It was our first mid-week loss of the year so we are now 5-1. We were 3-8 in mid-week games last year.
With 34 games remaining, here's where we currently stand in the numbers game. Click on the bold categories below to view the complete list of stats.
2019 ACC Baseball Stats (ACC Links)
Overall Stats: We're tied for 3rd in team batting .292. Last week we lead with .302.
Individual Stats: Zamora 7th in batting (.365), Cook 7th in pitching and Amiditis 3rd in fielding (No one else in the top 10.) (Click on "Individual" link)
Stat Leaders: Out of 18 categories listed, we have no leaders (Click on "Leaders" link)
Game Highs: Out of 33 categories listed, we have no leaders (click on "Game Highs" link)
NCST vs UM
As far as this weekend, here is how we stack up vs NCST in the major categories:
NCST ACC Stats vs UM
Batting: No. 2 in ACC team .294 - 2 points ahead of us (again, we led last week at .302,)
HRs: 4th in the ACC with 25, we are 3rd with 27
RBIs: Lead ACC with 170, we are 7th with 131
Runs: Lead ACC with 187, we are 6th with 149
Hits: Lead ACC with 222, we are 4th with 209
Slugging %: 2nd at .488, we are 3rd at .471
BB: 4th with 133, we are 10th with 100
SO: 5th with 176, we are 8th with 157
Es: Lead ACC with fewest at 11, we have 5th most with 28
We haven't played these guys since 2017 at their place. They won the first 2 games 5-3 and 5-2, we won Sunday 7-5.
STAT OF THE WEEKEND
Miami leads the all-time series, 34-16, and we're 20-5 at The Light vs NCST.
STARTING PITCHERS (courtesy UM)
Friday Game 1 @ 7 pm
Junior right-hander Evan McKendry (4-0, 3.23 ERA) will go for his fifth win, opposing NC State RHP Jason Parker (3-0 0.68 ERA) in a Friday battle of ACC aces. In his last start, McKendry held No. 8 UNC to four runs (three earned) on six hits over 5.2 innings while striking out three.
Did U notice their Game 1 Ps ERA? 0.68!!!!
BTW, the Canes will wear special pink-themed unis for this, the Breast Cancer Awareness Pink Game. Check it out:
(Courtesy: UM)
Saturday Game 2 @ 7 pm
Sophomore right-hander Chris McMahon (1-1, 4.00 ERA) will face off against sophomore RHP Reid Johnston (2-0, 2.86 ERA)
This will be the first of 2 scheduled Bark in the Park games this year at The Light.
Sunday Game 3 @ 1 pm
Sunday's finale will feature Miami's Brian Van Belle (3-2, 3.38 ERA), while NC State has not named a starting pitcher.
MEDIA
All 3 games will be on ACC Network Extra/Watch ESPN and WVUM radio/online + Sunday''s game will also be on radio stations 790 The Ticket and in Spanish on 990 AM ESPN Deportes.
IN CONCLUSION
So, what to make of our team? The Columbia loss sure reminded me of the last 2 years and now against the 2 best teams we have faced to date, we won the Friday opener, but could not finish and win the series even though we had 2 more chances to do so.
Question is: what kind of rebound will we see from our team? Or will we? We played down to the competition on Wednesday. Let's see if we can play "up" to a Top 5 opponent beginning Friday night and throughout the weekend. Otherwise, this will get ugly. I'd like to think our guys were so embarrassed they will now play with a little more urgency, energy, and pride vs. the 'Pack. Maybe we'll play better in pink, at least for the great cause, if nothing else.
I plan to cover at least 2 games, if not all 3, starting Friday night. I hope U can join me. The game thread will be posted prior to Game 1 with all the usual media info etc.
BTW, I can't cover all our remaining series like this ahead of time, but I will probably do it for FSU when they come to town, the ACC tourney if we go and ditto post-season, again, if we make it.
Go Canes!
Well, on top a revolting loss 2 days ago to Columbia, we face a BIG task this weekend with No. 5 NCST coming to The Light.
TEAM RECORDS
NCST: 20-1, 5-1/ACC
Miami: 15-6 overall, 3-3/ACC, 12-2 at home, 3-4 on the road; we're on a 3-game losing streak
The 'Pack lost their first game of the season last Sunday at FSU. They won the first 2 games to take the series including the Friday night opener, 16-0! Guys, that just doesn't happen at Dick Howser Stadium, although the Gates put 20 on the Noles a couple of weeks ago in Gainesville.
A brief look back at our last 3 games/Ls:
Game 2: UNC 9, UM 3
Outhit: 10-5
Errors: We had 1, UNC 0
SO: 7x to their 5x
LOB: they left 8, we left NONE.
Pitchers: we used 4, they used 2.
Game 3: UNC 8, UM 5
Outhit: 10-7
Errors: We had 2, UNC 1
SO: 3x to their 9x
LOB: they left 9, we left 5
Pitchers: Both teams used 4
Game 2 (Game 1 rained out) Columbia 4, UM 2
Outhit: 9-6
Errors: We had 2, they had 3 in the 1st inning
SO: 4x to their 8x
LOB: they left 9, we left 7
Pitchers: we used 4, they used 9
The UNC series was a carbon copy of the weekend at Florida. We won Friday's opener, lost the 2nd game, both 9-3, and lost the rubber match on Sunday, 4-1 vs UF and 8-5 vs UNC.
The loss to Columbia on Wednesday night at home was unexpected and frankly, embarrassing. Just read what Coach G had to say in his post-game press conference (my bold):
COACH G SAID IT
"I don't know exactly what they're thinking coming out and playing like that," (head coach Gino) DiMare said. "They were forewarned before the game about these midweek games and we know anything can happen in baseball. We didn't even compete. It's embarrassing for me as a head coach because I never thought I'd have to say that about a team of mine that wouldn't come out at least to compete but we didn't."
"Whatever word you want to use: flat, laid back, nonchalant," DiMare said of the Hurricanes. "Just very disappointing. Not what we want to see from our team."
"I don't ever feel like we had any momentum," DiMare said. "They gave us the runs early. We didn't really do anything to deserve to get them. They just made errors. I just never felt like there was life in our team today. I don't know why."
"I don't really have anything positive to say about the game," DiMare said. "It just was flat from the get-go. The only inning we got something going was in that eighth inning with first and third and Toral hits a missile right at the first baseman and it's a double play. That's part of the game. That's the only inning that I felt like we did anything because we hit three balls pretty hard in a row but that was it."
Regardless, U have to hand it to Columbia's HC. His pitching strategy was brilliant: He used 9 pitchers, one per inning, to keep us off balance so we never saw the same P twice. Had the first scheduled game not been rained out he probably could not have done this.
No matter, it still goes down as a loss to a team with a losing record and a team we should have beaten. It was our first mid-week loss of the year so we are now 5-1. We were 3-8 in mid-week games last year.
With 34 games remaining, here's where we currently stand in the numbers game. Click on the bold categories below to view the complete list of stats.
2019 ACC Baseball Stats (ACC Links)
Overall Stats: We're tied for 3rd in team batting .292. Last week we lead with .302.
Individual Stats: Zamora 7th in batting (.365), Cook 7th in pitching and Amiditis 3rd in fielding (No one else in the top 10.) (Click on "Individual" link)
Stat Leaders: Out of 18 categories listed, we have no leaders (Click on "Leaders" link)
Game Highs: Out of 33 categories listed, we have no leaders (click on "Game Highs" link)
NCST vs UM
As far as this weekend, here is how we stack up vs NCST in the major categories:
NCST ACC Stats vs UM
Batting: No. 2 in ACC team .294 - 2 points ahead of us (again, we led last week at .302,)
HRs: 4th in the ACC with 25, we are 3rd with 27
RBIs: Lead ACC with 170, we are 7th with 131
Runs: Lead ACC with 187, we are 6th with 149
Hits: Lead ACC with 222, we are 4th with 209
Slugging %: 2nd at .488, we are 3rd at .471
BB: 4th with 133, we are 10th with 100
SO: 5th with 176, we are 8th with 157
Es: Lead ACC with fewest at 11, we have 5th most with 28
We haven't played these guys since 2017 at their place. They won the first 2 games 5-3 and 5-2, we won Sunday 7-5.
STAT OF THE WEEKEND
Miami leads the all-time series, 34-16, and we're 20-5 at The Light vs NCST.
STARTING PITCHERS (courtesy UM)
Friday Game 1 @ 7 pm
Junior right-hander Evan McKendry (4-0, 3.23 ERA) will go for his fifth win, opposing NC State RHP Jason Parker (3-0 0.68 ERA) in a Friday battle of ACC aces. In his last start, McKendry held No. 8 UNC to four runs (three earned) on six hits over 5.2 innings while striking out three.
Did U notice their Game 1 Ps ERA? 0.68!!!!
BTW, the Canes will wear special pink-themed unis for this, the Breast Cancer Awareness Pink Game. Check it out:
(Courtesy: UM)
Saturday Game 2 @ 7 pm
Sophomore right-hander Chris McMahon (1-1, 4.00 ERA) will face off against sophomore RHP Reid Johnston (2-0, 2.86 ERA)
This will be the first of 2 scheduled Bark in the Park games this year at The Light.
Sunday Game 3 @ 1 pm
Sunday's finale will feature Miami's Brian Van Belle (3-2, 3.38 ERA), while NC State has not named a starting pitcher.
MEDIA
All 3 games will be on ACC Network Extra/Watch ESPN and WVUM radio/online + Sunday''s game will also be on radio stations 790 The Ticket and in Spanish on 990 AM ESPN Deportes.
IN CONCLUSION
So, what to make of our team? The Columbia loss sure reminded me of the last 2 years and now against the 2 best teams we have faced to date, we won the Friday opener, but could not finish and win the series even though we had 2 more chances to do so.
Question is: what kind of rebound will we see from our team? Or will we? We played down to the competition on Wednesday. Let's see if we can play "up" to a Top 5 opponent beginning Friday night and throughout the weekend. Otherwise, this will get ugly. I'd like to think our guys were so embarrassed they will now play with a little more urgency, energy, and pride vs. the 'Pack. Maybe we'll play better in pink, at least for the great cause, if nothing else.
I plan to cover at least 2 games, if not all 3, starting Friday night. I hope U can join me. The game thread will be posted prior to Game 1 with all the usual media info etc.
BTW, I can't cover all our remaining series like this ahead of time, but I will probably do it for FSU when they come to town, the ACC tourney if we go and ditto post-season, again, if we make it.
Go Canes!
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