2001 Season In Review
Sept. 19, 2001
Coral Gables, Fla. (www.hurricanesports.com) — – Several things occurred during the 2001 college baseball season to make it arguably the best all-time at the University of Miami, as well as one of the top team performances ever at the College World Series. Head Coach Jim Morris, the 2001 Collegiate Baseball and ABCA National Coach of the Year, guided the Hurricanes to their fourth National Championship and second in the last three seasons with a memorable blend of power, pitching, speed and defense.
Morris’ Hurricanes were a tough group to handle down the stretch winning their final 17 games, including a nine-game sweep through the NCAA Tournament. Following a mid-season home series loss to Cal State Fullerton, the school’s first in nearly two decades, Miami rebounded strong to win 28 of its final 31 games. UM’s berth into the CWS marked the seventh in Morris’ eight years at Miami, the most nationally by any team over the last eight seasons. The postseason berth extended the Hurricanes national lead to 29 consecutive seasons playing past the regular season.
Away from Mark Light Stadium, Miami played to near perfection. After dropping a narrow 11-10 decision at FAU in the season’s second game, the Hurricanes would win the remaining 17 games played away from home. Among the road wins was a sweep of the championship at the Hormel Foods Baseball Classic at the Minneapolis Metrodome.
To boot, the Hurricanes wound up with a national-high and school-record 11 players drafted with two more signing free agent contracts.
The Hurricanes claimed the National Championship with a 12-1 victory over Stanford in the College World Series finale at Omaha’s Rosenblatt Stadium. The 11-run margin of victory over the Cardinal tied a 45-year-old CWS record for a championship game, while the Hurricanes 12.3 runs per game set a new CWS mark. Miami also defeated Tennessee twice, 21-13 and 12-6, and Southern California, 4-3, to advance to the title game.
Centerfielder Charlton Jimerson was named the College World Series’ Most Valuable Player for continually making highlight plays in the field and at the plate during the entire course of the tournament. Along with Jimerson, teammates Kevin Brown (1B), Danny Matienzo (DH) and Tom Farmer (RHP) were all selected to the CWS All-Tournament Team.
Brown, who was also the Coral Gables Regional Most Outstanding Player, belted three home runs and a NCAA Regional record 10 RBI in the finale over Stetson. With Brown, Greg Lovelady (C), Javy Rodriguez (SS), Jimerson (OF), Matienzo (DH) and Farmer (P) were all named to the Coral Gables Regional All-Tournament Team. Miami swept Bucknell (14-6), Florida (6-2) and the Hatters (16-8) to earn a Super Regional berth.
UM advanced to the CWS with a two-game sweep over Clemson, 10-8 and 14-6, in Coral Gables Super Regional.
The Hurricanes’ power was well represented in the CWS statistics column with several UM players listed among the tournament’s leaders. Matienzo led the field with a .588 batting average, 10 hits, 20 total bases and tied for the top mark with three home runs. He also placed among the leaders with seven runs scored and nine RBI.
Brown slugged three home runs as well, along with 19 total bases, 10 RBI, seven hits, three doubles and four walks. Jimerson, who led off the first two games against Tennessee and Southern California with solo home runs, led the CWS with seven stolen bases. Rightfielder Kevin Mannix also chimed in with the CWS’ fifth-highest batting average (.538) along with seven hits. Four of the top five players at the CWS in walks were Hurricanes, led by Mike Rodriguez (5), Javy Rodriguez (4), Kevin Howard (4) and Brown (4).
On the mound, the pitchers simply got the job done. Besides playing in the CWS’ longest nine-inning contest (4:21) in the 21-13 marathon opener against the Volunteers, the Hurricanes’ pitching staff was near flawless in holding the opponent at bay.
Farmer recorded two victories at the CWS in the opener against Tennessee and the championship game against Stanford. He led the club with a 15-2 record and finished one win off the national-lead. Brian Walker, who was the pitcher of record in the USC game, finished the season with a 12-1 record placing him 19th nationally.
The Hurricanes also established a new NCAA record with 223 relief appearances, 29 more than San Diego State’s previous high of 194 set in 1982. Set-up man Luke DeBold was among the top relievers in the bullpen placing third at the CWS with a 1.42 ERA seeing action in all four games. DeBold would eventually tie for third all-time at UM with 44 appearances. Freshman All-American closer George Huguet, who also recorded 44 appearances, also saw action in the four CWS games and recorded the save against the Trojans. Huguet finished the season with 14 saves for third most nationally and sixth on the UM single-season list.
Miami’s speed re-wrote numerous records in 2001 and may have been the most prolific display ever in the history of college baseball. The team established a new school record with 228 stolen bases, 68 more than Tennessee’s second-most 160. Miami’s 3.51 steals per game was nearly one stolen base better than No. 2 North Carolina A&T’s 2.73 per game. UM also led the CWS with 13 steals, paced by Jimerson’s tournament-high seven and Mike Rodriguez’ four.
All-American shortstop Javy Rodriguez snapped UM’s longest standing offensive record, 27 years, when he recorded 66 steals to lead the nation with a 1.05 per game average. He broke Orlando Gonzalez’ 1974 high of 62. Not far behind were teammates Mike Rodriguez (53-0.83) and Marcus Nettles (44-0.81), who finished fourth and sixth nationally in stolen bases. Along with Jimerson’s 31 steals, 2001 marked the first time UM had four players with 30 or more steals. Additionally, Mike Rodriguez’ 53 steals in 55 attempts made him the most accurate base thief nationally. During the year, he set a new school-mark with a string of 31 consecutive steals.
Defensively, Miami tied the school record with 81 double plays and finished second nationally with a 1.25 per game average. The 81 twin-killings were seven more than No. 2 Michigan and Florida’s 74. The squad compiled the top won-loss record (53-12, .815) nationally. Individually, UM’s clutch defense was best seen on Jimerson’s above the outfield wall catch to steal USC’s Brian Barre’s would-be home run and preserve the 4-3 Hurricane win.
The 2001 season also saw the Hurricanes’ dominate in-state competition compiling a 23-4 mark against the likes of Florida, Florida State, Stetson, Florida International, Florida Atlantic, Jacksonville, South Florida and Florida Southern. The sunshine state highlight was the Hurricanes sweep of Florida, including an end to a five-year winless streak in Gainesville. The fuel for the season’s turnaround after the Cal State Fullerton series occurred against the Seminoles, as Miami won the final five games of the annual six-game set, including a three-game sweep at Dick Howser Stadium in Tallahassee.
