Miami Hurricanes News: Bats win NCAA opener, FB Top 5 for 5-star DL

The Miami Hurricanes baseball team erupted for five runs in the second inning to extend their lead to 7-0 and cruised to a 9-1 win over Maine in the NCAA Tournament. The Miami football program was named in the top five for five-star defensive lineman Kamarion Franklin and four-star linebacker James Nesta.

Following their win over Maine on Friday night, Miami plays Texas on Saturday at 6 PM. The winner between Miami and Texas will advance to the Coral Gables regional final on Sunday. Texas defeated Louisiana 4-2 in the first game on Friday. Miami has struggled in its second NCAA Tournament game in each of the last two years.

The top five hitters in the Miami Hurricanes lineup combined for nine hits, six runs scored and all nine Miami runs batted in. The top four Miami hitters each had two hits.  Edgardo Villegas, Yohandy Morales and Zach Levenson all hit home runs for Miami in the win. Gage Ziehl pitched six innings and struck out seven.

Franklin named the Miami Hurricanes football program with Auburn, Florida State, Mississippi and Tennessee as his five finalists on Friday. Tennessee is the prohibitive favorite for a commitment from Franklin at 75.2 percent according to the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine. Franklin is on his official visit to Miami this weekend.

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Nesta named Miami, North Carolina and Oklahoma as his three finalists. Miami leads for Nesta with a 34.4 percent chance for a commitment per On3. Nesta is the 324th prospect, 33rd LB and ninth player in North Carolina in the 2024 Class. On3 reported that Nesta will also play baseball in college.

Brian Smith of All Hurricanes wrote about which prospects taking official visits with the Miami football program this weekend could commit. Smith projected four-star wide receiver Drelon Miller as the prospect most likely to commit to Miami following this weekend of official visits.