Happy Friday, Caniacs...
The 2021 post-season is here and our Canes are back where the season started: in Gainesville.
Here's our bracket and the winner of this regional meets the winner of the Austin (TX) Regional hosted by No. 2 seed Texas. Miami has the best road record (14-10) in our regional but in our last five regionals on the road...we're 0-5.
Gainesville, FL Regional
#1 Florida (38-20) vs. #4 South Florida (28-27), 12 p.m., SECN
#2 Miami (FL) (32-19) vs. #3 South Alabama (33-20), 5 p.m., ACCN
Gainesville Regional Schedule
South Alabama
South Alabama won both the Sun-Belt's regular season and tournament. The Jags have a dozen players from Florida and their coach, Mark Calvi (Sun Belt Coach of the Year) grew up in Florida, played at Nova Southeastern and was an assistant at FIU for 11 years. Of the the 12 players is Andy Arguelles, whose older brother Anthony
Arguelles pitches for the Canes.
During the season, the Jaguars played three teams in the Field of 64:
Beat Southern Miss in three separate games, 5-3, 8-2, & 4-0
Lost to Alabama, 11-8
Lost to LSU, 11-1
Against a common opponent, they lost 2 of 3 vs App St. In the Sun-Belt Tournament, they went 4-0.
Series Record
Miami and USA (their colors are red, white and blue) have met 23 times and the U holds a 15-8 edge. The last time we played these guys was in 1997 when we took two of three.
USA may be the 4th seed and a team U don't know much about but don't dismiss them as some kind of fodder. For starters, after the season we've had we're in no position to look down on anyone else. Secondly, as I have stated many times before, every team in this tournament has 1-2 really good pitchers who can cause problems.
Stats of the Season
Want to know why opposing coaches start so many lefties against us? We hit just .242 during the regular season against southpaws and our record was 10-9. But against right-handed pitching UM is 40 points better at .282 and our record was 22-10.
BTW, South Alabama has only three hitters batting above .240 while the team average is just .244 so they rely on their pitching to win games. On defense, their 0.979 fielding percentage is the best in the region.
Starting Pitchers
This is only a guess, but it could b JoJo Booker, a 5th round MLB pick our of HS who opted to play college ball. He's 7-0 with an ERA of 3.66 in 15 starts. But...he's a righty and based on the stat above, they could go with Tyler Lehrmann, 3-3 this year with an ERA of 4.63 in 13 appearances including 7 starts.
For Miami, will it be Jake Smith? He's 3-0 with a 2.68 ERA in 17 appearances. He's had six starts, all in the second half of the season, where he's 3-0 and an ERA of 1.08. Last weekend he pitched five scoreless innings vs Duke.
USA Player to Watch
Left-fielder Ethan Wilson. He was first team All-Sun Belt who bats .300.
One Final Stat
To save you pitching start the weekend 2-0. If U do, U are in the catbird seat. If not, U could be playing five games in four days.
MEDIA COVERAGE
Where to Watch on Cable & App Streaming: ACC Network
Where to Watch Online: South Alabama vs Miami (Watch ESPN/ACCNX/NCAA Baseball)
Where to Listen: WVUM Radio (Courtesy UM)
Where to View: Live Stats (no UM link available)
Will this afternoon be the start of a big run in the post-season or do we pull another 0-2 as we did in the ACC tourney?
We'll find out soon enough. I hope U can join me later this afternoon.
Go Canes!
The 2021 post-season is here and our Canes are back where the season started: in Gainesville.
Here's our bracket and the winner of this regional meets the winner of the Austin (TX) Regional hosted by No. 2 seed Texas. Miami has the best road record (14-10) in our regional but in our last five regionals on the road...we're 0-5.
Gainesville, FL Regional
#1 Florida (38-20) vs. #4 South Florida (28-27), 12 p.m., SECN
#2 Miami (FL) (32-19) vs. #3 South Alabama (33-20), 5 p.m., ACCN
Gainesville Regional Schedule
| Game | Time | Road | Home |
| Game 1 - Friday | 12:00 pm | South Florida | Florida |
| Game 2 - Friday | 5:00 pm | South Alabama | Miami |
| Game 3 - Saturday | 12:00 pm | Loser, Game 1 | Loser, Game 2 |
| Game 4 - Saturday | 4:00 pm | Winner, Game 1 | Winner, Game 2 |
| Game 5 - Sunday | 12:00 pm | Winner, Game 3 | Loser, Game 4 |
| Game 6 - Sunday | 6:00 pm | Winner, Game 4 | Winner, Game 5 |
| Game 7 - Monday (if needed) | 1:00 pm | Winner, Game 4 | Winner, Game 5 |
South Alabama
South Alabama won both the Sun-Belt's regular season and tournament. The Jags have a dozen players from Florida and their coach, Mark Calvi (Sun Belt Coach of the Year) grew up in Florida, played at Nova Southeastern and was an assistant at FIU for 11 years. Of the the 12 players is Andy Arguelles, whose older brother Anthony
Arguelles pitches for the Canes.
During the season, the Jaguars played three teams in the Field of 64:
Beat Southern Miss in three separate games, 5-3, 8-2, & 4-0
Lost to Alabama, 11-8
Lost to LSU, 11-1
Against a common opponent, they lost 2 of 3 vs App St. In the Sun-Belt Tournament, they went 4-0.
Series Record
Miami and USA (their colors are red, white and blue) have met 23 times and the U holds a 15-8 edge. The last time we played these guys was in 1997 when we took two of three.
USA may be the 4th seed and a team U don't know much about but don't dismiss them as some kind of fodder. For starters, after the season we've had we're in no position to look down on anyone else. Secondly, as I have stated many times before, every team in this tournament has 1-2 really good pitchers who can cause problems.
Stats of the Season
Want to know why opposing coaches start so many lefties against us? We hit just .242 during the regular season against southpaws and our record was 10-9. But against right-handed pitching UM is 40 points better at .282 and our record was 22-10.
BTW, South Alabama has only three hitters batting above .240 while the team average is just .244 so they rely on their pitching to win games. On defense, their 0.979 fielding percentage is the best in the region.
Starting Pitchers
This is only a guess, but it could b JoJo Booker, a 5th round MLB pick our of HS who opted to play college ball. He's 7-0 with an ERA of 3.66 in 15 starts. But...he's a righty and based on the stat above, they could go with Tyler Lehrmann, 3-3 this year with an ERA of 4.63 in 13 appearances including 7 starts.
For Miami, will it be Jake Smith? He's 3-0 with a 2.68 ERA in 17 appearances. He's had six starts, all in the second half of the season, where he's 3-0 and an ERA of 1.08. Last weekend he pitched five scoreless innings vs Duke.
USA Player to Watch
Left-fielder Ethan Wilson. He was first team All-Sun Belt who bats .300.
One Final Stat
To save you pitching start the weekend 2-0. If U do, U are in the catbird seat. If not, U could be playing five games in four days.
MEDIA COVERAGE
Where to Watch on Cable & App Streaming: ACC Network
Where to Watch Online: South Alabama vs Miami (Watch ESPN/ACCNX/NCAA Baseball)
Where to Listen: WVUM Radio (Courtesy UM)
Where to View: Live Stats (no UM link available)
Will this afternoon be the start of a big run in the post-season or do we pull another 0-2 as we did in the ACC tourney?
We'll find out soon enough. I hope U can join me later this afternoon.
Go Canes!
