Miami Baseball hosts Boston College in Morris’ final regular season series
Miami Baseball Head Coach Jim Morris begins the final stretch of his legendary career this weekend. The Hurricanes host Boston College Thursday and Friday night and Saturday afternoon.
Miami baseball enters the final regular-season series with an eight-game winning streak. The Hurricanes won the final game of a three games series against Florida State three weeks ago, swept Bethune-Cookman and Virginia Tech the last two weekends and defeated Florida Gulf Coast last Wednesday.
Miami had a chance to greatly improve their RPI on Wednesday night against Stetson. The teams were tied at one before lightning and a two-hour delay canceled the game. The Hatters are ranked 13th in the country and seventh in the RPI.
Boston College enters the weekend the with ACC’s worst overall and conference records. The Eagles are 7-20 in the conference and 17-30 overall. BC travels to Coral Gables with a two-game winning streak. They won the final game of a three-game series at home against Louisville last Sunday. Boston College followed that up with a win over Maine on Tuesday night at home.
The Eagles are near the bottom of the ACC in hitting and pitching. They are 13th in the conference in hitting with a .243 batting average and 12th with a 5.28 Earned Run Average.
Miami has greatly raised their averages during the winning streak. The Hurricanes hitters are now up to .258. That’s significantly higher than it was a few weeks ago. Miami is tenth in the ACC in batting.
The eight-game winning streak has put the Miami baseball team on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament. Miami is going to need to keep winning to have a chance to get to the NCAA Tournament.
The Hurricanes almost definitely need to sweep Boston College this weekend and win both of their pool games in the ACC Tournament. Some have projected that the Hurricanes need to get to the ACC Tournament Championship game to have a chance at an at-large bid. With an RPI of 59, it’s going to be difficult.
After 44 consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament, Miami is in extreme danger of being left out for the second straight season. Baseball America has the Hurricanes among the next four out.
Boston College will present some problems in their lineup. They don’t have much power. The Eagles are last in the ACC with seven home runs, Miami is 13th with 14 home runs. BC does have three hitters over .300. Infielder Jake Palomaki is the Eagles hitter to watch. He’s batting .313 with three home runs and 32 RBIs.
"“SERIES INFORMATIONDates: Thursday, May 17, 2018 – Saturday, May 19, 2018Game Times (ET): 7 p.m. | 7 p.m. | 1 p.m.Site: Coral Gables, Fla. | Alex Rodriguez Park (4,999)TV: ACC Network Extra (all home games)Flagship Radio: 790 The Ticket (Friday, Saturday)Student Radio: WVUM 90.5 FM | WVUM.org (all games)Spanish Radio: 990 AM ESPN Deportes (Saturday only)Twitter Updates: @CanesBaseball / @MiamiHurricanesLive Stats/Postgame Recap: HurricaneSports.comSeries History: Miami leads, 22-8Coral Gables: Miami leads, 15-2Chestnut Hill: Miami leads, 7-4Neutral Site: Boston College leads, 2-0First Meeting: March 21, 2003 – Miami won, 18-8Last Meeting: April 30, 2017 – Miami lost, 2-9Streak: Boston College, one winMIAMI 25-25, 14-13 ACCHead Coach: Jim Morris (Elon, 1973)DI Career: 1,591-715-4 (37th season)at Miami: 1,087-471-3 (25th season)vs. BC: 22-8-0Thursday: SR LHP Jeb Bargfeldt (3-4, 3.53 ERA)Friday: SO RHP Evan McKendry (6-6, 3.81 ERA)Saturday: TBABOSTON COLLEGE 17-30, 7-20 ACCHead Coach: Mike Gambino (Boston College, 2000)DI Career: 179-247 (eighth season)at BC: 179-247 (eighth season)Twitter: @BCBirdballThursday: JR RHP Jacob Stevens (3-6, 5.09 ERA)Friday: JR LHP Dan Metzdorf (1-7, 5.87 ERA)Saturday: SR RHP Brian Rapp (3-5, 3.57 ERA)”"
Next Game: Miami will take Sunday and Monday off before they head to Durham North Carolina for the ACC Tournament. Miami is currently in seventh place in the ACC. That would put them in pool B with the second and 11th seeds in the tournament.
Next: History of Miami Hurricanes in the MLB All-Star Game
Clemson and North Carolina are currently tied atop the ACC. Pittsburgh, Virginia or Wake Forest are likely to be the 11th seed. Miami will not likely fall below the seventh seed in the ACC Tournament. They can assure that with two wins this weekend. They are half-game behind Florida State for seventh and a game behind Louisville for fifth.