Miami baseball not happy just being back in NCAA Tournament

Just getting to the NCAA Tournament was expected by the Miami baseball program until 2017. The Hurricanes 44-year streak of making the NCAA Tournament came to end that season. Now that they are there the goal is to win a national championship.

Miami baseball head coach Gino DiMare stated that the expectation for the Hurricanes players is to think about finding a way to win a championship. Miami enters the NCAA Tournament after being eliminated in the ACC Tournament following surrendering a 5-0 lead to North Carolina in a 7-5, 11 inning loss Friday.

DiMare led the Hurricanes to a 39-18 in his first season as head coach. DiMare succeeded his mentor two-time national championship-winning head coach Jim Morris. DiMare was a Morris assistant for the last 20-years. The Hurricanes significant improvement on offense was the difference this season.

Miami has the most power of the four teams playing in Starkville. The Hurricanes finished 14th in the country with 75 home runs this season. Miami first baseman Alex Toral has 22 home runs. That is sixth nationally entering the NCAA Tournament. Miami hit 23 home a team in 2018.

The Hurricanes open the NCAA Tournament in Starkville, Mississippi on Friday night against Central Michigan at 8 PM ET, 7 CT.  The Chippewas are riding an 18 game winning streak and 20 games against Divison I opponents. Southern University plays regional host Mississippi State at 1 PM ET Friday.

The winners play Saturday at 7 PM ET and the losers play Saturday at 1 PM. Miami has the lineup and pitching to advance out of Starkville to face the winner of the Stanford regional. The biggest question for the Hurricanes is getting consistent play defensively. Miami finished 246th nationally with a .961 fielding percentage.

DiMare spoke with HurricaneSports.Com about the importance of instilling in his team the confidence that they can win the national championship.

"“This is a step in the direction. Yes, we’re happy we’re in the regionals, absolutely. But you know what? For so many years, this was just a foregone conclusion,” DiMare said. “We’re thinking about finding a way to win a championship. That’s what I want our players to think about.I can’t stress enough how many times from the beginning, from the first day in August, we were talking about winning a national championship…That’s what I grew up on in this program, watching it and of course playing in it and coaching for it for so long.I’m happy to be [on] the team to get us back into the regional and back in the playoffs, but it’s not our ultimate goal,” sophomore Alex Toral said. “We want to go to Omaha and we want to win in Omaha. It’d be cool to be that team that gets us back to Omaha and, hopefully, win it.”"

There was a lot of consternation from the Miami fanbase over the struggles during Morris’ final two seasons. DiMare was criticized earlier this season when the Hurricanes had a six-game losing streak in March. What the fans and those that don’t follow college baseball closely have to realize is parity is prevalent nationally.

"“There’s so much more parity. I think that’s probably true in all of college sports, you’re seeing that more and more…Nobody knows it better than us, losing the last couple of years and not getting into the NCAA tournament, which we can’t ever let happen.”"

DiMare’s allusion to the parity also comes with the acknowledgment that as one of the elite programs of college baseball Miami should be making the tournament every year baring an aberration. This is a big weekend for the Miami baseball program. The Hurricanes have a chance to make a statement that the U is back.