Off to Omaha For UM!

Well, they certainly know how to make us sweat. But in the end, amidst the blood, sweat, and tears, the Miami Hurricanes prevailed over a pesky Arizona Wildcats squad that simply refused to hospitably roll out a red carpet for Miami on their way to Omaha, Nebraska for the College World Series. The Hurricanes defeated Arizona 4-2 in the deciding Game 3 of the NCAA super regional Sunday night in Coral Gables. After the scoring-intensive first two games of the series, the third game was a defensive battle by comparison.

UM went up 3-0 in the first, helped in large part by first-round pick Yonder Alonso's two-run homer. In the fourth, the Cats managed a two-out rally which led to two runs in the fourth to make it 4-2. It would be the end of the scoring for the evening. Arizona starter Eric Berger allowed just four runs on six hits and two walks in 7 2/3 innings. Only three of the four runs were earned. Against such an explosive hitting lineup for the Canes, it was an inspired effort by Berger, only to be matched by UM starter Enrique Garcia's two runs (one earned) on seven hits in six innings. UM's bullpen, a question mark heading into this series, took the Canes the rest of the way -Kyle Bellamy, Chris Hernandez, and Carlos Gutierrez held off the Cats to bring the Canes one step closer to their 5th national title.

If you haven't seen highlights of Gutierrez's stop in the 8th and Ryan Jackson's catch-and-throw in the 9th to seal the deal, do so - they are among the best plays made so far in the postseason by any team.

Dissecting the Kyle Skipworth Pick

The presiding opinion seems to be overwhelmingly positive for the Kyle Skipworth pick. That's always nice to see...

Here's what Baseball America had to say:

Kyle Skipworth to the Marlins. In our last podcast that wasn’t a college behemoth podcast, we both agreed that Skipworth can be the highest-ceiling player in this draft. He’s a lefthanded-hitting catcher who can just flat hit, and he has arm strength and improved catch-and-throw skills. Frankly, this pick rocks. The Marlins need catching, Skipworth has an advanced bat and can be a premium player at a premium position.

I like the words, "Frankly, this pick rocks." Feels nice.

And now, from Baseball Prospectus:

Like the Orioles, the Marlins have been locked in on their player for some time now. The top high school catcher, Kyle Skipworth has had a record-breaking season and greatly impressed scouts both in games and during private workouts. He’s a big left-handed hitter with excellent power and enough defense to stick behind the plate, and he would have a clear path to the majors in a catching-weak Marlins system. There are some inside the organization who would like to consider a college closer here, but the sixth pick is too high to employ that gambit. There's also a late push in favor of University of Miami first baseman Yonder Alonso; if he worked out, the Miami native and Cuban immigrant would be the face of the franchise, but the Marlins are a team that has always stuck to slot, and Alonso may have priced himself out of the opportunity.

Good point about Yonder Alonso and pricing. That may be ultimately why the Marlins didn't go for him. I'm very pleased with the pick, and I think Marlins fans will be too in about three years.

Plenty of South Florida interest in top 10 picks

South Florida has been well represented through the top 10 picks of the 2008 MLB Draft. With the first pick overall, the Tampa Rays selected Timothy Beckman, a high school short stop out of Georgia. It appears as though Beckman has all the tools in place to be a bona fide MLB'er in the future; he has speed enough to cover the holes in the infield as well as steal a few bases, and the power to be a solid fixture in any lineup.

The 3rd pick came from the Royals, and they selected, from American Heritage (Boca Raton\Delray Beach\Plantation area), Eric Hosmer. He's been called the top bat in this year's draft, drawing comparasion to Casey Kotchman, despite only being in high school.

With the 6th pick, the Marlins selected, as predicted here on TSFFB, catcher Kyle Skipworth.

Then, with the 7th pick, the Reds picked University of Miami first baseman Yonder Alonso, who beat out South Carolina's Justin Smoak to be the first college first baseman to be picked. What Alonso lacks in defensive abilities, he more than makes up for with power.

And just recently, another Hurricane was taken with the 12th pick; 2nd baseman Jemile Weeks.

More as the draft unfolds...

Nothing is Guaranteed for Hurricanes Baseball Team

After a riveting ride through the ACC Tournament, which saw the Canes winning their first ACC championship in school history (they joined the ACC in 2005), the Canes are now thrown into the proverbial lion's den to face arguably the toughest pitchers in any NCAA regional taking place this weekend. Miami, who is 47-8 and the #1 team in collegiate baseball (again), faces Bethune-Cookman on Friday at 4 p.m. at Mark Light Field. The other two teams in the Coral Gables regional are #2 seed Missouri and #3 seed Ole' Miss.

Bethune-Cookman, while the #4 seed this weekend and only 36-20 on the season, will send Hiram Burgos to the mound. Burgos has the nation's lowest ERA at 1.20. On the bright side for Miami is that they gave Burgos his only loss of the season. Not that the Canes would ever worry. After all, they did just win the ACC, which features six teams playing in the NCAA regionals, including #4-ranked FSU.

In a statement that must make most Canes fans smile, phenom 1B Yonder Alonso said of Miami's tough regional draw, "Why not? We're Miami. Nothing is easy, and if I want a ring, I want it the hard way." Somewhere Melvin Bratton, Warren Sapp, and Ed Reed are also smiling at the latest expression of the us-against-the-world mentality from a Hurricanes player. It's tough, it's brash, it's cocky, it's old-school Miami. We'll see beginning this weekend if the outward swagger translates into post-season success and a 5th national baseball title.

Canes baseball suffers late setback, but end-of-season honors flow like wine

Two nights after I felt vindicated, the Hurricanes baseball team brought me right down and made me look foolish. I thought they'd rise to the occasion, at home, to make a "statement" this weekend about who the preeminent team in the country was. Alas, they did not, and UNC is the new top dog. Even club stud Yonder Alonso had to concede on Saturday that UNC deserved the honors. As disappointing as the late-game slide was, it means nothing. The Canes finish 43-8 (23-5 in the ACC), #2 in the country, and enter the post-season poised to host regionals and super-regionals, and have as good a shot as any team to ascend to the pinnacle of the sport.

Speaking of pinnacles, Jim Morris was named ACC coach of the year on Monday. The Canes also had 8 guys selected to the All-ACC team. Chris Hernandez was named ACC Freshman of the Year, while Hernandez, Blake Tekotte, Yonder Alonso, Jemile Weeks, Ryan Jackson, and Mark Sobolewski all garnered 1st-team All-ACC honors. Rounding out the honoraria, pitchers Eric Erickson and Carlos Gutierrez were named 2nd-team all-conference.

Alonso's Big Blast Beats FAU

Boca Raton -- As Yonder Alonso’s towering ninth inning homer sailed up and out of FAU Stadium, so did the Owls’ hopes of defeating top-ranked Miami for the second time in as many games.

The Hurricanes beat the Owls 12-10 in the deciding game of a three game series in front of an FAU near-record crowd of 2,348. After splitting the first two games in Coral Gables, Miami came back from a 10-3 deficit to beat FAU in Boca Raton.

“Pretty good game,” said FAU coach Kevin Cooney. “We were up by a bunch and couldn’t finish it off. A great relief pitcher got bitten.”

Freshman closer Glen Troyanowski entered with one out in the eighth inning to try to protect a 10-7 FAU lead. He escaped the eighth with the Owls lead at 10-9, but after recording two easy outs in the ninth, Jemile Weeks singled and Troyanowski fell behind the Hurricanes’ first baseman. He served up a 2-0 fastball and Alonso deposited it over the batting cages and into the forest behind the right field fence.

“I just got a good pitch,” said Alonso, who let the FAU fans seated along the right field line know that it was time to quiet down by bringing his finger to his lips as he rounded first base. As Alonso approached home plate he was engulfed in a celebratory mob of teammates.

“This time it was their day,” Cooney said.

The Owls let an early lead and a gutsy pitching performance by starter Adam Morrison go to waste. Morrison struck out four and gave up seven runs in five innings of work. But the Owls played some shoddy defense behind him and four relievers.

After a two out walk to Weeks in the fifth, Alonso hit a high pop into shallow left-center field. Four Owls converged on the ball but none caught it, as it plopped harmlessly onto the outfield grass.

In the eighth inning third baseman Troy Bubley, inserted for defensive purposes, had a routine ground ball get stuck in his jersey. The freakish error led to two Hurricanes runs, setting the stage for Alonso’s ninth inning blast.

“[Troyanowski] was one pitch from being the hero and now he’s the goat,” Cooney said.

The Owls got off to a torrid offensive start to open up a big lead against Miami starter Michael Rudman. FAU scored multiple runs in each of the first four innings. Shortstop Nick Arata was one of FAU’s offensive stars. He had three hits, including a two-run homerun, and scored three times. Catcher Alex Silversmith went 4-for-5 with an RBI.

The near-record crowd filled the stands behind home plate and the grassy berms along the baselines. There was believed to have been a bigger crowd when Miami visited FAU in 2001, but FAU didn’t start keeping official attendance figures until 2003.

The Hurricanes improved to 31-3 with the win as the Owls fell to 21-13. This weekend the Owls travel to New York for a four game series against New York Tech.