With season waning, Miami Hurricanes baseball rebounds from mini slump to stay in top 10
It was looking a little shaky, but the Miami Hurricanes rebounded just in time to ensure they would stay well among the top 10 ranked college baseball teams.
The Hurricanes (32-12, 17-7 Atlantic Coast Conference), who had risen to as high No. 2 in the polls in recent weeks, had their first worrisome four-game losing streak last week before rebounding with a 13-2 rout Sunday over ACC foe Georgia Tech.
They came into the weekend ranked No. 3 by D1Baseball and Baseball America, but Monday only dropped to No. 6 in those polls. They are No. 5 in the USA Today Coaches Poll, and No. 9 in Collegiate Baseball’s ranking.
With 11 games left in the regular season, the Canes, with the nation’s No. 14 RPI, still have the top record in the ACC.
UM’s recent losses were 9-4 at home to Pittsburgh April 24, an ugly 12-4 home showing against Stetson April 26, and 3-1 and 7-5 defeats to Georgia Tech this past Friday and Saturday on the road. Georgia Tech is 27-18 and 12-12 and ranked 21st by D1Baseball.
On Sunday, the Canes blasted four home runs in their win over the Yellow Jackets, including a two-run shot by catcher Max Romero Jr., who finished the three-game weekend series with three homers and six RBI.
The Hurricanes had a stretch in which they won 18 of 21 games, including a 14-game winning streak from March 23 through April 12.
The Canes next meet North Dakota State (24-12, 12-4 Summit League) for a three-game weekend series at Mark Light Field that begins at 7 p.m. Friday and continues at 7 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.
Fast forward to Wednesday, May 11 and UM faces UCF (26-17, 10-5) of the American Athletic Conference at home before heading to Tallahassee to face conference rival Florida State (26-15, 11-10) in a three-game series — always fierce, hard-fought games.
“We can fight,’’ freshman infielder Henry Wallen told UM after hitting his first career homer Sunday. “Every team goes through this. We’re a tough team and we bounced back.’’
This story was originally published May 2, 2022 at 6:46 PM.
