Miami Hurricanes baseball has one goal for 2026: Get to College World Series
J.D. Arteaga could talk about a lot of things that went right for his Miami Hurricanes baseball team last season.
There’s the eight-win improvement from Year 1 to Year 2. There’s the midseason run that beefed up the team’s case to get into the NCAA tournament. And then there was the surprise run once they got into the 64-team field.
Arteaga, however, wants to focus on what still needs to be accomplished.
“It’s putting another banner on the wall,” Arteaga said. “Getting to Omaha, getting to the World Series.”
For all that went right for the Hurricanes last season, they still came short of that goal — by the slimmest of margins.
Miami lost in the Super Regionals to Louisville, falling in the winner-take-all Game 3 by a 3-2 final score. UM’s chance for its first trip to Omaha, Nebraska, and the eight-team College World Series since 2016 came to an end right then and there.
“From the outside, everybody probably thought that we weren’t going to go as far,” outfielder Derek Williams said, “but from the inside, we knew what the team was capable of. And going to the regional, and then super regional was by far the best baseball and the most fun I’ve had, but it left a little dirty taste my mouth not making it all the way.”
That is fueling these Hurricanes as they get ready to start the 2026 season, which begins Friday when Miami hosts Lehigh for a three-game weekend series. Game times from Mark Light Field are 7 p.m. Friday, 6 p.m. Saturday and noon Sunday, with all three games streaming on ACC Network Xtra.
Miami opens the season ranked No. 22 by D1Baseball, one of eight ranked Atlantic Coast Conference teams. There’s potential for this team to take that next step and get to Omaha for the first time in a decade.
“It definitely hits home when you’re that close,” star third baseman Daniel Cuvet said, “and you realize that it’s achievable.”
Lineup will be a strength
Miami returns all four of its top hitters from last season. Cuvet, arguably the top collegiate third baseman in the country, leads the charge. He paced Hurricanes regulars in batting average (.372), on-base-plus-slugging (1.158), doubles (20), home runs (18) and RBI (84). His 42 career home runs are already tied for seventh in school history and 20 shy of Phil Lane’s school record of 62 set from 1982-84.
Beyond Cuvet, infielder Jake Ogden (.336 average, .902 OPS, 14 doubles, nine home runs, 36 RBI, 63 runs, 13 stolen bases) and outfielders Williams (.317 average, .986 OPS, 20 extra-base hits, 34 runs, 10 stolen bases) and Max Galvin (.313 average, .867 OPS, 26 extra-base hits, 37 RBI, 52 runs) also return.
Catcher Alex Sosa, who had a .935 OPS with 10 home runs and 16 doubles last season at NC State, provides more pop to the lineup. As should first baseman/FIU transfer Brylan West (12 home runs in 2025) and shortstop/USC-Upstate transfer Vance Sheahan (.921 OPS, 12 home runs, 57 RBI in 2025).
“I think this is the most like potent offense we’ve had since I’ve been here,” Cuvet said, “and by a lot.”
Rotation set, bullpen a work in progress
The Hurricanes’ weekend rotation, at least to start the season, will feature three homegrown sophomores in AJ Ciscar on Friday nights, Lazaro Collera on Saturdays and Tate Derias on Sundays.
Ciscar, a former standout at Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas, began the 2025 season in Miami’s bullpen before moving into the rotation during conference play. He went 6-2 with a 4.46 ERA and 65 strikeouts against 16 walks over 66 2/3 innings spanning 21 appearances (10 starts). Four of his final six starts were quality starts, defined as pitching at least six innings while giving up no more than three earned runs.
Collera, a former Miami Westminster Christian standout, made 12 appearances as a freshman last season, pitching to a 7.07 ERA over 14 innings. However, seven of the 11 earned runs he allowed came across just two of his dozen outings.
Derias made 18 appearances as a freshman in 2025 and like Ciscar moved into the rotation toward the end of the season. He had a 5.77 ERA over 43 2/3 innings.
“These are homegrown guys,” Hurricanes pitching coach Laz Gutierrez said. “These are guys that we recruited from high school and have developed within our program. And in a perfect world, that’s how you want to see it, where you recruit young bucks, you bring them in and they’re eager to learn and grow and get better.”
But while Arteaga knows how his starting pitchers will line up, his bullpen still needs to be sorted out.
UM is starting from scratch with almost all of its relievers departing following players graduating, being drafted or leaving via the portal.
Some names to watch there: Richmond transfer Ryan Bilka, who is projected to be the team’s closer; Packy Bradley-Cooney, a transfer from Alabama; and Jake Dorn, a lefty who made 11 appearances and had a 1.98 ERA with Miami last season. Nick Robert, who was Miami’s Opening Night starter last season, and Florida transfer Frank Menendez will provide depth to that group as well later in the season. Both are currently rehabbing injuries.
“I don’t want to call it a weakness,” Arteaga said of the bullpen, “but just the unknown of it is our biggest concern right now.”
Key series to watch
Miami’s first big test will come Feb. 27-March 1 when it hosts the Florida Gators, who open the season ranked No. 13 by D1Baseball.
Other preseason ranked opponents on Miami’s schedule include No. 19 Clemson (road, March 26-28), No. 21 Wake Forest (home, April 10-12), No. 17 NC State (road, May 1-3), No. 8 Louisville (home, May 7-9) and No. 16 Florida State (road, May 14-16).
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