Happy Monday, y’all. Hope your weeks have gotten off to a great start. Let’s get after it…
1) I don’t usually start off with baseball, but by God, let’s do it here.
The Miami Hurricanes outslugged the Louisville Cardinals in two out of three games to take the series. Miami exploded in the fifth with NINE runs to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 13-8 laugher in the opener. Five RBI singles did the damage with some patient and simple hitting.
The Canes dropped the middle game 16-9 in 11 innings. It felt like
things were going Miami’s way when Alonzo Alvarez got one through the left side of the infield to plate pinch runner Tate DeRias – YES, PITCHER TATE DERIAS – from second base with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game at 7. But Louisville went through five Miami pitchers in the eleventh while plating nine runs (speaking of that nine-run inning again) to take the game.
But Miami got by in the rubber match 10-8 to take a crucial final home series and deal a likely death blow to Louisville’s tourney chances absent an ACC title. Alex Sosa homered twice and drove in five runs as Miami came from behind 6-1 to rally back and claim the lead for good in the sixth. Lyndon Glidewell struck out the side in the ninth to slam the door.
2) The Canes are now firmly in the field for the NCAA Tournament after taking two out of three from Louisville over the weekend. I don’t know if the pundits will say it, but the hell with it, I will.
Miami was a 2 seed in the Texas regional according to D1 Baseball’s latest field of 64 projections last week, and they should only move up. Unless they get swept ugly by FSU on the road and get bounced out of ACC tourney immediately, I’m not sweating Selection Monday.
Now, it would be NICE of them to do the opposite. Go to Tallahassee, take that series, and go on a nice run in the conference tourney to perhaps give the powers that be something to think about as far as the Hurricanes hosting. It feels like it might take a conference tourney title for that to happen, so I’m not getting my hopes up. But dare to dream, I guess.
3) Bucs head coach Todd Bowles isn’t one to toss out compliments all that often. But he did on Friday for Rueben Bain, Jr.
It was sleds and pads, but Bain looked like a grown-ass man on the practice field at One Buc Place. And Bowles gave him his flowers after his first practice.
“He looked like he was in midseason form,” Bowles said. “Obviously, he’s from Miami, so he’s going to be practicing in the heat, where a lot of the other guys are going to struggle to adjust to this weather, so it didn’t bother him at all. He came in in great shape, and he ran around well, and he kind of picked up some things very well.”
Yeah, yeah, it’s pads, but I can’t help but feel Bain is on a mission to terrorize this year.
4) I gave some kudos to Cristobal for flipping five-star Georgia commit Donte Wright, but I was remiss with another big recent grab.
Cristobal landed a commitment on Friday from Houston, TX Langham Creek DL Ezekiel Ayangbile. The four-star defensive lineman picked Miami over LSU and Virginia Tech. The 6-2, 260 lb lineman checks it as the No. 179 overall player, the No. 21 defensive lineman, and No. 25 player in the state of Texas for the 2027 cycle.
At this point, getting another talented defensive lineman to add into the mix is a win, as Miami needs to continue to stack talent there. I will always have last year’s meat grinder of a defensive front in my mind as the engine for success on the field, and Ayangbile has the potential to develop into a future factor for Miami up front.
Go Canes!
