Canes slip in polls after two straight road losses to FSU, but still in top 10 with Irish heading to town
Four games to go in the regular season and the Hurricanes need to shake off two consecutive road losses to Florida State, get their defensive selves together and play complete baseball — that is, if they want to ensure a spot as an NCAA regional host when the national tournament field of 64 is announced May 30.
After winning six in a row, Miami (37-14, 18-9 Atlantic Coast Conference) dropped the next two games Saturday night and Sunday at Florida State in Tallahassee, which resulted in their dip in the rankings — but not nearly as bad as it might have been had FSU (32-18, 15-12) not been ranked and having a decent season.
The Hurricanes, who had risen to No. 6 after sweeping North Dakota State
May 6-8, fell to No. 9 in both the D1Baseball and Baseball America Polls released Monday. They dropped from No. 5 to 8 in the Collegiate Baseball rankings and from No. 5 to 6 in the USA Today Coaches Poll.
Their RPI dropped from No. 6 to 8.
FSU, meanwhile, rose one spot to No. 20 in D1Baseball, one spot to
No. 12 in Baseball American,
three spots to No. 24 in Collegiate Baseball and four spots to No. 21 among the coaches.
The Seminoles’ RPI rose one spot to No. 17.
After the Canes face Florida Gulf Coast (31-20, 15-12 ASUN) at Mark Light Field at 6 p.m. Tuesday, it’s on to Notre Dame at the Light in the final regular-season series Thursday through Saturday.
Notre Dame (31-11,
15-9) leads the Atlantic Division of the ACC. The Irish are ranked 14th by D1Baseball and No. 8 by Baseball America, and have the No. 14 RPI.
Nationally, UM ranks 25th of 293 Division I teams in runs (408), 28th
in hits (531) and 31st in scoring (8 runs a game).
Ace Carson Palmquist is 25th nationally with 97 strikeouts and 12.47 per nine innings.
Closer Andrew Walters, ranked fourth nationally with 13 saves, has obviously been exceptional.
But UM has been deficient in the field. The Canes had six errors in
their three games against FSU, two against UCF last Tuesday, two against North Dakota State, one against Georgia Tech, two against Stetson and two in the Pittsburgh series that began April 22. According to the NCAA, Miami is 10th of 14 ACC teams in fielding percentage (.970), with 57 errors.
“We played very poorly
and still had our chances,” Miami head coach told UM Saturday after the Canes’ initial loss to FSU.
UM heads to the ACC tournament May 24-29 at Truist Field in Charlotte, North Carolina.