Canes Baseball Climbs Up Three Polls
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami baseball program remains ranked among the top teams in Division I, coming in as high as No. 5 in polls released Monday.
The Hurricanes (11-4, 3-0 ACC) are ranked highest by Baseball America, moving up one spot to No. 5 in their top 25. The Canes also jumped up one spot NCBWA poll to No. 7 and climbed to No. 8 in the USA Today Coaches Poll.
Miami held its position in three polls, remaining at No. 7 in the D1 Baseball top 25, No. 9 in Collegiate Baseball’s poll and at No. 11 in the Perfect Game poll.
The Canes ascent in the rankings comes after they went 3-1 last week, dropping a midweek game at FAU before sweeping Pittsburgh in their first ACC series over the weekend.
Miami bounced back from its first midweek loss of the season with an impressive showing in their first taste of conference play.
One swing of the bat by Alex Toral sent the Miami Hurricanes home winners in their ACC opener on Friday afternoon.The reigning ACC home run king hit a rocket off of Pitt right-hander C.J. McKennitt that got out of Mark Light Field in a hurry, giving the Canes an 11-inning 5-4 walk-off win over Pittsburgh.
Strong pitching and timely hitting helped the Hurricanes secure a series win over the Panthers Saturday night. The Canes (10-4, 2-0 ACC) got another excellent outing from Chris McMahon, while a three-RBI showing from Adrian Del Castillo helped propel Miami’s offense to a 5-0 win.
An offensive explosion helped the Canes complete a sweep of their ACC Coastal foe with a 14-2 win on Sunday, as Jordan Lala and Anthony Vilar’s three-hit performances helped lead an offense that combined for 18 hits in the series finale.
The Canes hit the road this week, traveling to UCF for a midweek matchup on Wednesday at 6 p.m. After facing the Knights, Miami will continue on its road swing for a weekend series at Virginia Tech beginning Friday at 4 p.m.
