Miami baseball ranked No. 1, will meet No. 2 Florida Gators in weekend showdown at UM
The Miami Hurricanes have returned to the nation’s No. 1 spot — at least in one well-respected ranking — for the first time since the 2016 season.
D1Baseball released its rankings Monday morning after preseason No. 3 UM swept Rutgers this past weekend at Alex Rodriguez Park’s Mark Light Field.
The Canes, who leaped over No. 2 Vanderbilt (1-2) and No. 1 Louisville (1-2) after both lost their opening series, now get the opportunity to make a huge statement when the new No. 2 Gators (up from No. 4) come to UM for a three-game weekend series beginning at 7 p.m. Friday.
The Gators swept Marshall this past weekend.
The Baseball America rankings, which came out later Monday, moved Miami up from No. 5 to No. 3 and Florida from No. 4 to No. 2.
There is no love lost between Miami (national titles in 1982, 85, 99 and 01) and Florida (national title in 2017), who are bitter rivals. The Hurricanes lead the Gators 130-124-1 in the series that dates to 1940, with Florida absolutely dominating Miami for the past several years. UM has won only two games in the past 10 against UF.
Miami baseball is coached by Gino DiMare, who is in his second season as the head man. Canes baseball fell into some hard times during the past few years before it returned to the NCAA tournament in 2019 — though UM (41-20 in 2019) was eliminated in the first-round regionals.
This year’s Hurricanes team is expected to be its best in several years. The Gators (34-26 in 2019), meanwhile, didn’t do as well last season, but have been very strong for a long time.
Before the Canes meet the Gators, they’ll host Kent State (2-1) at 6 p.m. Wednesday.
▪ In other UM baseball news, sophomore catcher Adrian Del Castillo was named the first Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Player of the Week on Monday. Del Castillo, hitting .556 after the sweep over Rutgers, hit two home runs and had 6 RBI, three runs scored and a double for the weekend.
This story was originally published February 17, 2020 at 10:31 AM.
