Confidence Breeding Success For Miami At CWS
June 12, 2001
By DENNIS WASZAK Jr.
AP Sports Writer
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – The Miami Hurricanes don’t have any big-name stars,feared sluggers or overpowering pitchers.
They do have plenty of confidence, and that’s translated into a 15-gamewinning streak that has Miami (51-12) one victory from the College World Serieschampionship game.
“All we’ve been hearing all season is that we don’t look that good onpaper,” said center fielder Charlton Jimerson, who has led off both of Miami’sCollege World Series victories with home runs. “But as you play, you gainconfidence in your teammates and feed off each other like we’ve been doing allseason.”
The Hurricanes, who won the College World Series in their last appearance in1999, haven’t lost since dropping a 3-2 decision to Jacksonville on May 4, andhave been beaten just twice in their last 25 games. Their next game is Thursdayagainst the winner of Tuesday night’s Southern California-Tennessee game.
“I read a quote somewhere that said playing good breeds confidence,”Jimerson said. “And we’re playing good and we’re getting more and moreconfident every game. You might look at me, or you may question any one of theplayers on our 25-man roster, but we all have confidence in each other.”
Despite a 20-hit attack in a 21-13 victory over Tennessee on Saturday night,Miami doesn’t have gaudy offensive statistics. First baseman Kevin Brown leadsthe team with just 13 homers and designated hitter Danny Matienzo leads with 61RBIs. As a team, the Hurricanes are hitting .306 with 72 home runs and 462 RBIs- a far cry from the 1998 team that set the school record with 139 homers, andscored 637 runs.
“I don’t think anyone is scared of us,” catcher Greg Lovelady said. “Onthe team I played on in ’98, we had guys like Pat Burrell, Aubrey Huff andJason Michaels and all three of those guys are in the big leagues. In thosedays, people were pitching around them. People don’t pitch around us on thisteam, and that’s why every day it’s someone different doing the job for us.”
The offense might carry the team one game, as it did in the victory overTennessee. And the pitching might come through in the next, as displayed in a4-3 victory over Southern California on Monday night. It seems whatever movescoach Jim Morris has made during the streak have worked.
“Those first 13 don’t matter,” Morris said. “It’s these two right here inthe World Series. Of course, the better you play and the more you win, the moreconfidence you have, and you have more confidence in every move and everyplay.”
Earlier this season, the Hurricanes abandoned thoughts of becoming aslugging team and went to playing “small ball” – stringing together hits,stolen bases, hit-and-run plays and bunts to score.
Miami leads the nation with 221 stolen bases, led by Javy Rodriguez’sschool-record 66. Mike Rodriguez has 51 and Marcus Nettles 44, making theHurricanes a threat to run whenever they get on base. They have outscoredopponents 533-315.
“If we get one guy on base, with our speed, we can turn a walk or a singleinto a triple,” Lovelady said. “We don’t need to look for that big double inthe gap or that big home run to get that guy in. When those guys are on, wejust need to get a base hit. We get those fast guys on base, and they do theirjob.”
The pitching staff has also done the job, albeit without much fanfare. TheHurricanes have a combined ERA of 3.88, led by junior left-hander Brian Walker(12-1, 4.22), senior right-hander Tom Farmer (14-2, 3.64) and freshman closerGeorge Huguet (14 saves). The bullpen has made an NCAA-record 217 appearances.
“Ever since I’ve been at Miami I’ve heard, ‘We are Miami. We’re the mightyHurricanes,”‘ Walker said. “People look up to us. Other colleges, whetherthey want to admit it or not, they look up to us and we have to play like we’rethe Miami Hurricanes. We have a level of expectations placed upon us. We haveto play good baseball. All the players in the past, they set the example and wehave to follow it.”
