Seven Miami Canes named to All-ACC teams as No. 11 UM heads to tourney; and injury news
Miami Hurricanes baseball received good news as the Canes prepared to head to Durham, North Carolina, on Monday afternoon for the Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Championship, which begins Tuesday.
The Hurricanes (37-18, 18-12), who open the ACC tourney at 7 p.m. Thursday against North Carolina State (34-18, 13-16) and stayed at No. 11 in the final regular-season rankings that were released Monday, had seven players named to All-ACC squads announced by the conference.
One of them, third baseman Yohandy Morales, was named later Monday as one of 25 semifinalists for the prestigous Golden Spikes award that is presented by USA Baseball and goes to the top amateur baseball player in the nation.
The seven All-ACC players, voted on by league coaches, are led by first-team recipients Morales, UM’s third baseman; and closer Andrew Walters.
Miami’s second-team All-ACC players are first baseman CJ Kayfus, shortstop Dominic Pitelli and pitcher Gage Ziehl.
The third-team All-ACC players are second baseman Blake Cyr and outfield Zach Levenson.
Cyr also was named to the All-ACC freshman team.
Morales, Walters
Morales, a 6-4, 225-pound third-year junior out of Miami G Holmes Braddock High, leads the Hurricanes with a .395 batting average. He has a .649 slugging percentage, with a team-high 81 hits, 39th nationally of the top 127 players ranked by the NCAA. He has 13 home runs with 53 RBI.
Morales, a high-round draft prospect, was part of the 2022 USA Baseball Collegiate National Team.
Walters (4-0, 1.21 ERA), another highly-ranked draft prospect, is a 6-4, 222-pound fourth-year junior from Palm Bay. He has nine saves In 24 appearances (37.1 innings)and is holding batters to a .165 average. He has struck out 63 opponents and walked only seven.
Ligon, Rosario update
▪ Miami coach Gino DiMare on right-handed former starter Karson Ligon, who hasn’t pitched since April 23 because of shoulder soreness: “He’s going to throw bullpen tomorrow and we’re hoping if we’re playing on Saturday [in an ACC tourney semifinal] he’ll be available to throw, albeit limited,’’ DiMare told reporters on Monday before the ACC teams were announced. “If we don’t get to that game, when we come back he will throw a simulated game most likely Saturday here against some hitters. He threw two simulated innings last week. This will be three innings. Hopefully at regional time he’ll be able to throw four innings. It’s a pitch count — maybe 55-60 innings.”
▪ DiMare on right-handed junior starter Alejandro Rosario, who was injured Friday when he got hit with a line drive on his throwing arm: “Thank God he’s OK. he did not get hit in the bone area, it’s the forearm area. it swelled up and has come down. He played catch today. He feels really good. he does feel it. He feels it when he’s moving his hand and fingers around but in terms of throwing he feels good. He wants to throw, he wants the ball, he wants to have an opportunity to pitch. Those are all positive things. we’ll just have to see how everything plays out.”
ACC tournament
The ACC tournament will be played at Durham Bulls Athletic Park and begins Tuesday. It features a pool-play format leading into the four-team, single-elimination bracket to determine the league champion. Each team in the four, three-team pools will play the other two teams. The four teams with the best records within their respective pools advance to the semifinal, with the winners meeting at noon Sunday for the ACC title.
If teams in any of the four pools — UM is in Pool D — are tied at 1-1 after their two first games, the team with the highest seed in the respective pool advances. That bodes well for the Canes, who are seeded No. 4 in their pool, with NC State No. 9 and Duke No. 5.
UM’s second ACC game is at 3 p.m. Friday.
This story was originally published May 22, 2023 at 2:22 PM.
