Regional Action Begins Friday
June 2, 2005
Miami makes its 21st NCAA Regional Appearance as the top seed and will play fourth-seeded Virginia Commonwealth on Friday, June 3 at 7 p.m. at Mark Light Field. Second-seeded Mississippi State takes on third-seeded Florida Atlantic at 3 p.m. Friday.
Every game of the regional will be broadcast by the Student Voice of UM, 90.5 FM. UM’s flagship station, WQAM, will cover all Miami games on either WKAT 1360 AM or on 560 AM, as will Spanish Radio, on either WNMA 1210 AM WSUA 1260 AM. All other games will be on WSUA unless Miami plays at 3 p.m on Saturday. WQAM will broadcast on WKAT for Friday’s game and Saturday’s game if Miami plays at 7 p.m, and Sunday’s game if Miami plays at 3 p.m. WQAM will carry the game if Miami plays Saturday at 3 p.m. and Sunday at 7 p.m. WKAT will also air the game if Miami plays at 3 p.m. on Sunday. All other games will be on WQAM.
Comcast Sports Southeast will broadcast all the games played this weekend.
Home never seemed so sweet for the Hurricanes, who have not played a game at Mark Light Field in nearly a month. Miami has played eight games on the road since then, losing the last six. The Hurricanes have been outscored 45-14 during the losing streak, which included four losses to Clemson.
Past postseason success is something that can’t be relied upon, but it is something that can’t be ignored. The Hurricanes have compiled a 70-11 record as regional hosts and are 78-11 all-time in postseason play at “The Light.”
There is no question that the funk has to end for the Hurricanes, but the task won’t be easy. Miami faces Colonial Athletic Association champion VCU, who ripped through its four-game conference tournament to claim the title with a 13-6 win against Towson on May 28. The Rams are prepared for tournament play and had four different pitchers pick up wins in the CAA Tournament. VCU’s pitching staff is supported by an ample offense that is collectively hitting .316.
The possible second-round opponents don’t offer up any softies. Mississipi State ran through the Southeastern Conference Tournament as the seventh seed to defeat LSU (9-2), South Carolina (6-2), Tennessee (3-2) and Ole Miss (4-1) to claim the conference title.
Florida Atlantic will make its third-straight trip down I-95 to play in a Coral Gables Regional. Miami ended the Owls’ season with a 19-6 win last season and won 1-0 in 2003. The Owls’ run at an Atlantic Sun title came up short with an 8-0 loss to Stetson in the conference title game. FAU’s 36-22 record, which included wins against Georgia Tech and A-Sun champion Stetson, was good enough to earn the Owls an at-large bid.
Miami head coach Jim Morris was joined by VCU skipper Paul Keyes, FAU’s Kevin Cooney and MSU’s Ron Polk in addressing the media Thursday afternoon:
Miami Head Coach Jim Morris
Opening statements: “I’d first like to congratulate all the coaches and the teams. It’s great to have Coach Cooney back again. Great job of finishing strong, I know that’s what you have to do to get into these tournaments.
“I go back a long ways with Coach Polk. I remember when he was a coach here and I was a junior college coach. I rode across that bridge with him and coach (Ron) Fraser, I was in the backseat. They were driving and I was going to the National Coaches Convention and I felt like the man because I was with these two guys when the clinic was here. Lot of great stories and a lot of great memories…
“VCU, with their finish, winning the conference, I want to congratulate you. Great finish. We’re excited about hosting a tournament. All three clubs had great finishes. That’s the one thing I’m concerned about, people are bringing it up, that we’re 0-6 in our last six games. I’ve always said, `It’s not how you drive. It’s how you arrive,’ like golf. We haven’t been putting too well. We have to get it going. The one advantage is that we’re back at home. We feel good about that. We have to get our confidence back up…
“This week we’ve been practicing as hard as we could to try and get ready for this tournament. We’re excited about playing it and hopefully we play well.”
On six-game losing streak on the road and the student-athletes returning home:
“I know that everyone has road trips that are tough. The Virginia trip was a good trip for us and we came back and I felt fine. In 2001 we played Cal State Fullerton and when they walked out of here, I felt like we played the New York Yankees. They put on a show for us.
“Clemson played the game as well as they could that weekend. They hit everything we threw up there and caught everything we hit. It was a great weekend for them. At that point, I thought we lost a little bit of our confidence, which you don’t normally see in a Miami team. I don’t want to say that we have a young team, but we have some new guys in the lineup and they kind of lost their confidence at that point and time. I don’t know if it was so much of being tired. If that’s the case, then we ought to be rested because we went two-and-out in the ACC Tournament and we’ve had plenty of time to come home and rest to get ready for this tournament.”
Virginia Commonwealth Head Coach Paul Keyes
Opening statements: “We’re excited to be here. The last time I was here, Coach Morris was at Georgia Tech in the 1987-88 season. It’s been awhile, but we’re excited. Looking at our record, we’re 33-20, but one thing you have to remember is that was all road games. We did not play at our home stadium this year. We were about 45 minutes away, playing at Petersburg, down in the sports complex…
“It’s a great reward for our guys to get here. It’s been a long year, they’ve been on a lot of buses and we’re a very young club. We only have three seniors. Two of them contribute, the other has been in our program for four years…
“We are excited to be here.”
Florida Atlantic Head Coach Kevin Cooney
Opening statements: “I’m happy to be here and be in such illustrious company. Sitting in between (Ron Polk and Jim Morris), there are a lot of wins right here. Paul (Keyes) and I are going to do our best just to hang in with these guys. I remember hearing Coach Polk talk a long time ago. When I was a high school coach, I ran out and bought his book. I had my assistants use his book when I was Montclair and then at Florida Atlantic…
“I’m thrilled to be playing against Mississippi State…
“We are happy to be here. We have a young, young club. I’m basically a pessimist in most season and didn’t really see this club as being a regional-caliber team unless we were able to play well at the end of the year and win our conference tournament. In the beginning of the year we couldn’t hit a lick. I don’t really know why that was, but we really didn’t hit well. We were pitching pretty well. Then our hitting got to be pretty good and our pitching went in the opposite direction. About 12 weeks into the season we jettisoned our starters and put in three different guys and things started to settle down…
“We’re pretty young and we’re going to do the best we can. Anything we do here is a plus. We’re going to coach it that way and we’re going to play it that way. We’re in a spot we really like to be in. It was a surprise, a big surprise. We were alone. We kind of sequestered everybody and kept the press out. It was really a thrill to see our name go up and since it was the second-to-last regional announced, it was a time to sweat. It was a real happy day for our program.”
Mississippi State Head Coach Ron Polk
Opening Statements: “I came down the hallway (in the Hecht Athletic Center), and Pete Elliott was the athletics director when I was here. His office now is all computers. That just shows you that times have changed since I was here in 1975.
“We’re happy to be here. We’re not looking forward to playing Florida Atlantic. I’ve heard a lot of good things about their ball club. We have to play someone and they may be one of the better no. 3 seeds in the country.”
“We just got back from Birmingham, Alabama, where our guys played very well against a very, very strong Southeastern Conference field. We really pitched well and gave up seven runs in four games against LSU, Tennessee, South Carolina and Ole Miss. We’re coming in here with some momentum, but at the same time we realize that Paul (Keyes) and Jim (Morris) and Kevin (Cooney) also have great ball clubs. We feel good about our ball club. We’re somewhat young, too. We only have five seniors and don’t have a single senior in our position-player lineup. We have a lot of experienced players who have participated in SEC warfare and in Regional tournaments.”
