No. 11 Miami will leap into semifinal of ACC tourney with win over NC State. Here’s how
The end game, as always, is the College World Series.
But University of Miami coach Gino DiMare is tired of how his Hurricanes have seemingly overlooked the phase of postseason baseball that comes between the end of the regular season and start of the NCAA regionals that lead to the coveted final stage in Omaha, Nebraska.
“I do not want to go into the regionals not playing good baseball coming out of the ACC tournament,’’ DiMare said just before the Canes won the final regular series last weekend against then-No. 16 Duke. “There is absolutely going to be an emphasis on that because we haven’t the last few years.
“That’s the bottom line.’’
The bottom line begins at 7 p.m. Thursday when the No. 11 Hurricanes (37-18, 18-12 Atlantic Coast Conference) meet unranked North Carolina State (35-18, 13-16) in their opening game of the ACC Baseball Championship at Durham (North Carolina) Bulls Athletic Park.
The Canes have only won the ACC tournament once, in 2008, despite winning the regular-season Coastal Division four times — as recently as 2016. They have done particularly poorly the past two years, going 0-2 in each of the 2021 and 2022 seasons.
Tournament nuances
But should No. 4 ACC tourney seed Miami defeat No. 9 seed NC State on Thursday, the Hurricanes would automatically advance to a Saturday ACC semifinal, even though they still would have to play a 3 p.m. Friday game against No. 5 seed Duke before the semifinal.
The reason: NC State defeated Duke in 11 innings in their opening ACC tourney game Tuesday night.
The explanation: The ACC tournament uses a pool play format, with No. 4 ACC seed Miami, No. 5 Duke and No. 9 NC State in one of four ACC tournament pools. Each team plays the other two teams in its pool once, with the four teams with the best records within their respective pools advancing to the Saturday semifinal — and the semifinal winners meeting at noon Sunday for the ACC tournament title. However, if any of the four pools — UM is in Pool D — are tied at 1-1 after the first two games, the teams with the highest seed in the respective pool advances. So, a win against NC State would ensure that the worst UM could do in its pool is go 1-1.
The Canes will learn Sunday evening if they are hosting an NCAA regional — the first round of the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship. Should they host, they will learn the other three Coral Gables regional teams at noon Monday, when the field of 64 is announced on ESPN2.
At least one win in this week’s ACC tournament would seemingly lock up a regional host status for the Canes, though if UM loses to NC State then the Wolfpack will be the team heading to Saturday’s semifinal.
UM strengths
UM, a power-hitting program ranked 11th nationally in home runs (106), 19th in slugging percentage (.528), 22nd in hits (576) and 19th in fielding percentage (.979), defeated the Wolfpack at Mark Light Field in two of three games this season, but those games were played March 10-12.
“Just really proud of our guys, a great end to the regular season,’’ DiMare said. “We did talk about the importance of the ACC tournament. I think our program in the past has probably looked ahead... I want us to play well in the ACC tournament because it’s about continuing to play good baseball. I don’t want us to go out there and think, ‘Whatever happens, we’ll maybe host.
“...I’ve been in that stadium when we’ve played NC State and there’s not an open seat in there. It’s all red. It’s packed with NC State fans. ... They’re a different team [now]. We’re a different team, too.’’
The Wolfpack, who fell to UM 9-8 and 8-1 in March, then won the final series game 14-4, led Duke 7-1 in their opening ACC tournament game this week before the Blue Devils chipped away at the lead and tied it with two runs in the ninth. State, which had three errors, used five pitchers. Duke used eight.
‘Why not us?’
Canes freshman second baseman Blake Cyr, who leads UM with 16 home runs and was named to the All-ACC third team on Monday, said he loves going on the road into a hostile atmosphere. Not only will the 10,000-capacity Bulls Athletic Park be filled with neighboring NC State fans, but it is Duke’s home field.
“You go there and everybody is against you and we like that,’’ Cyr said. “it has always been, ‘Why not us?’ this whole season.”
Added right-handed sophomore Gage Ziehl (7-4, 4.65 ERA), who likely will get the Thursday start: “Whoever I face this week, I’ll be ready. Postseason baseball in the ACC is electric. It’s going to be fun.’’
This story was originally published May 24, 2023 at 1:43 PM.
