Miami baseball NCAA Tournament sixth national seed
The Miami baseball team received the sixth overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. Miami will host the Coral Gables Regional versus Canisius, Arizona and Mississippi. Miami finished the regular season 39-18 overall and 20-10 in the ACC. This is the 48th NCAA Tournament appearance for Miami and the 28th time hosting a regional.
The Miami baseball program is hosting a regional for the first time since 2016. Receiving a top-eight overall seed was critical. If Miami advances out of the regionals they will host a super regional beginning either June 11 or 12. The Coral Gables and Hattiesberg regional winners will play in the super regional.
Miami is 15th in the RPI. The Hurricanes finished with the second-best record in the ACC in 2022. Miami finished 7-6 against teams ranked ahead of them in the RPI. The Hurricanes are 28-8 at home this season. Florida who is the 13th overall seed in the NCAA Tournament was the only team to win a series at Miami in 2022.
Miami will open the regional against Canisius. The Golden Griffins are 29-23 and won the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. Canisius has an RPI of 169 and finished 15-16 on the road this season. Pittsburgh is the only common opponent for Canisius and Miami.
Canisius split a four-game series with Pittsburgh in Port Charlotte, Florida to begin the season. The Golden Griffins won the first and last games of the series 11-3 and 15-7. Canisius lost the middle two games to Pittsburgh 12-2 and 4-0. The Golden Griffins enter the postseason with a six-game winning streak.
Miami enters the NCAA Tournament with losses in six of its last eight games. Canisius has four batters hitting over .300. Matt Duffy and Chris Pouliot are the likely starting pitchers for Canisius in the regionals. Carson Palmquist who was first-team All-ACC will almost definitely start for Miami against Canisius.
Freshman Karson Ligon who struggled for Miami in six of his last eight starts will likely be the game two starter for Miami. Miami needs to get better pitching after allowing 25 runs against North Carolina State and Wake Forest in the ACC Tournament. North Carolina State did not receive an NCAA Tournament bid.
Arizona is 38th in the RPI and has a 37-23 overall record and was 12-10 on the road this season. Mississippi is 40th in the RPI, has a 32-22 overall record and is 12-8 on the road in 2022. Arizona finished 16-14 and in fifth place in the Pac 12. Mississippi was 14-16 in the SEC and finished in fifth place in the West Division.
Canisius and Miami will play on Friday at noon. Arizona and Mississippi will play at 7 PM. No schedule has been announced beyond Friday. Arizona and Miami do not have any common opponents. Central Florida is the only common opponent for Miami and Mississippi. Miami was 1-1 versus the Knights, the Rebels were 2-1.