Six powerful Miami Hurricanes in midst of accomplishment not achieved at UM since 1998
Baseball fans who love the long ball — who doesn’t? — have at least 99 reasons to head to Mark Light Field this week to watch the No. 11 Miami Hurricanes attempt to sweep No. 16 Duke in a three-game series and ultimately win the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Coastal Division en route to the ACC tournament next week.
For the first time since 1998, a year before the Canes won their third of four national titles (and three years before their fourth), the University of Miami has six players who have reached double digits in home runs. UM is 11th nationally of 295 Division I teams with those 99 dingers generated by 16 players.
First, the double-digit six: second baseman Blake Cyr (14), third baseman Yohandy Morales (12), catcher Carlos Perez (12), first baseman CJ Kayfus (11), shortstop Dominic Pitelli (11) and outfielder Zach Levenson (10).
The other 10 players are led by Ian Farrow’s seven home runs, followed by Edgardo Villegas’s five and Lorenzo Carrier’s four.
“I’m not surprised, actually, after coming in here in the fall and watching the guys’ work ethic,’’ said Cyr, a true freshman batting .313, with a .620 slugging percentage. “It’s really something cool to be a part of for sure.
“Home runs are the only plays in baseball you can’t defend. The defense can’t do anything about it.’’
Levenson, 21, is a third-year junior hitting .301, with a team-leading 15 doubles as well as his home run collection.
“It’s something that was a little unexpected,’’ he said of the home run phenomenon, “but to get them consistently all year has been great for us as a team. A home run is the best play in baseball. Last night I had two line-outs hit really hard right at guys. If you hit the ball over the fence they can’t catch it. It’s a great energy boost for us and gets the guys going.”
Grand-slam Pitelli
Pitelli, a junior, hit his fourth career grand slam in UM’s 17-4 victory at FIU on Tuesday night. Another tidbit: Two of Pitelli’s grand slams came in UM’s three-game sweep of Duke last season, making him the first UM player to ever hit two in a series.
“We’re playing our best baseball now,’’ Pitelli, batting .306 with 50 RBI, said Wednesday, when asked if he expected six players to reach double digits. “I knew we had a lot of guys that could honestly hit for power or contact. So it was whether or not it would happen. It did.’’
Keep in mind that the Hurricanes (35-17, 16-11 ACC) have the Thursday (7 p.m.), Friday (7 p.m.) and Saturday (1 p.m.) games against the Blue Devils (34-17, 15-11) which conclude the regular season, as well as the ACC tournament May 23-28 in Durham, North Carolina, and NCAA regionals (and they hope, beyond) to add to their home-run bounty.
Unranked Florida Gulf Coast (37-15) leads the nation with 122, and consensus No. 1 Wake Forest (43-8, 20-6), which already clinched the regular-season conference title, leads the ACC with 100.
UM coach Gino DiMare said about 50 percent of the Hurricanes’ runs have come via the home run, but that he never would have expected it this past fall because the wind doesn’t blow out until the spring.
“I think it gives the entire team more confidence,’’ DiMare said. “Last night we played FIU and the score was 6-3 after five innings and we scored 11 runs after that. That’s what can happen when you have power. You can get runs in bursts and a lot of them quickly. Dom Pitelli, four career grand slams. We’ve had some big home runs in big situations with guys on base.”
Rewind to ‘98
In 1998, UM’s super six who ended the season with a UM all-time record 139: first baseman/designated hitter Aubrey Huff (21), outfielder Jason Michaels (19), outfielder Pat Burrell (17 despite only playing 35 games because of injury); catcher Manny Crespo (16), first baseman/designated hitter German Alvarez (15) and infielder Bobby Hill (12).
According to UM, the Hurricanes have reached 100 home runs only four times, the last time in 2010. Their all-time home run leader was Phil Lane, with 25 in 1982, the year of UM’s first national title.
On to Duke
The Canes, who rose to No. 9 Monday in the Baseball America Top 25 Poll and stayed at 11 in D1 Baseball, are tied atop the Coastal Division with No. 21 Virginia (41-11, 16-11) and ahead of Duke (34-16, 15-11) by only half a game in the ACC. But UVA, which owns the head-to-head Coastal tiebreaker with UM by virtue of sweeping the Canes earlier this season, has the advantage.
UM will start right-handed sophomore Gage Ziehl (7-4, 4.78 ERA) on Thursday. Duke is starting right-handed graduate student Alex Gow (3-3, 4.80).
Miami has a number of ways it can win the Coastal, but the least complicated way is to sweep Duke and have Virginia lose one of three to Georgia Tech. Another way — and perhaps the most realistic — is for Miami to win two of three games against Duke, while Virginia (vs. Georgia Tech) and North Carolina (vs. Clemson) each lose a game in their final series.
Although Duke has lost four of its last six games heading into Thursday, it has an exceptionally strong pitching staff with a combined 3.80 ERA — fourth best in the nation. Closer James Tallon (1-0, 0.95) is 11th nationally with 10 saves. The Blue Devils are fourth nationally in strikeouts per nine innings (11.1). On offense, their 87 home runs are 26th nationally.
Should Miami win the Coastal, it would pick after Wake Forest the day it wants off in the ACC tourney.
“You’re setting it up for your pitching and that’s a big thing,’’ DiMare said.
Regarding that pitching, top right-handed middle reliever Alejandro Torres and Andrew Walters — still one of the nation’s top closers — know how important the power hitting has been for defensive security.
“It definitely provides a sense of comfort knowing that 1 through 9 could probably bop it out of the ballpark the way they have this year at the rate we’re going,’’ Torres said. “But whoever is on the mound we have full confidence in.’’
Added Walters: “We want to swing the bat here and we have a lot of power. Glad to see the home runs provided by our team. It’s huge.”
