This Week in Hurricanes History: The Streak That Changed The 2014 Season
It’s not how you start, but how you finish.
The Miami Hurricanes were the hottest team in college baseball at the end of the 2014 regular season, going on a 27-3 run over the final 30 games.
But a roster that featured 17 MLB draft picks — including a first-round selection — and three MLB players, looked like it was destined for a disappointing year as it neared the halfway point in the schedule.
“We did not start off well,” team captain Javi Salas said. “We were at the 25-game mark and we were probably around .500, like 13 and 12. I think we played Virginia and we were really, really struggling. We had some tough series early in the year. We lost two of three at Georgia Tech and that was a big gut punch. We lost two of three to Florida State.”
Salas’ memory serves him well, as the Canes were just one game over .500 through 25 games and coming off back-to-back losses to Virginia that dropped Miami to 5-4 in conference play. The Hurricanes, who opened the season ranked No. 16, fell out of the rankings following their series loss to the Cavaliers.
With their season in free-fall, the Hurricanes could have easily continued with their inconsistency and finished the season in a disappointing fashion.
But Salas and fellow upperclassmen like outfielder Dale Carey and Tyler Palmer, as well as fellow pitchers Chris Diaz, Bryan Radziewski and Andy Suarez were not about to let their team quit. The leaders of the 2014 Canes called the team together after a disappointing trip to Georgia Tech and let everyone know that there was a lot left to play for.
“I think the moment we clicked was at Georgia Tech,” Salas said. “We didn’t really see the wins right away after that, but we had a doubleheader at Georgia Tech. We lost both games and lost the second game in an extra-innings walk-off to Georgia Tech. And I remember that meeting in right field, the coaches kind of walked away and it was just us. I remember guys like Tyler Palmer, me and some of the other older guys like Adam Sargent and Sam Abrams, we all just kind of looked around and we wanted to make sure that the young guys understood that this was a long season. We still had a lot of season left. We had over 35-40 games left and, obviously, we’re scuffling and we’re struggling now, but we felt like we always had it there. We just needed to figure out how to put it together.”
“I kind of felt like in the beginning of that season, we just weren’t bonding as a team,” freshman star Zack Collins said. “I think that meeting was the biggest thing that turned us around. We kind of were giving up on each other and guys were just kind of being selfish a little bit. And then after that meeting, we turned it around and were playing as a team and having fun and doing our thing. That was the biggest turnaround for us.”
THE STREAK BEGINS
After going 3-7 over its previous 10 games, including midweek losses to Bethune-Cookman and Stetson, Miami began to put it together on March 26. Miami’s arms shut out FGCU and Collins turned in his second straight three-hit game to secure a 4-0 win over the Eagles.
The victory over FGCU was the first of 14 consecutive wins for the Canes, but no one outside of Miami’s dugout knew what the Hurricanes were about to do to the rest of their schedule.
“We just clicked,” freshman outfielder Willie Abreu said. “It finally clicked. We had been struggling to find it. We had dealt with a few injuries at the beginning of the year, but all of a sudden, when it all clicked, it was just all systems go and it was scary. It was a scary time to be playing against us, that’s for sure.”
The Canes won big and they won tight from March 26 to April 19, with five wins by five-plus runs and eight one-run victories in the stretch.
“There were so many catalysts for our success in that in that 14-game stretch with the close games and the blowouts,” Salas said. “When you’re winning and you know you’re going to win baseball games, it’s so much fun. Baseball such a huge momentum sport. Once we did click, it was scary. It was almost like we didn’t really understand our full potential.”
Miami’s pitching staff was its strength entering the season and it was especially outstanding during the streak, combining for a 1.98 ERA over 127 innings pitched.
“It was one of those things where it was kind of a perfect blend of seniors and young guys,” Salas said. “Being part of the rotation with B-Rad, Chris with Andy, I always told the guys that I had the best seat in the house for the best rotation in college baseball. Friday, Saturday, Sunday, we could stack up against anybody and it was just so much fun to compete with those guys. We always had a healthy competition in the sense that we only wanted to do better than the guy in front of us. Chris on Friday was always like the barometer. He was by far and away our most consistent pitcher. Then Andy on Saturday and B-Rad on Sunday, we always felt like with those two guys we had a chance.”
“The back end of our bullpen was incredible that year, too,” Salas said. “Bryan Garcia, he came into his own and [Thomas] Woodrey and [Cooper] Hammond were incredible also. We knew our numbers, we knew that we were pitching well, but more importantly, I think we all enjoyed each other’s success.”
Miami’s bullpen was especially close-knit. Salas, who pitched in relief on the weekends, and fellow senior AJ Salcines provided leadership for the talented young pitchers in the pen and all of the relievers took pride in helping out their fellow pitchers.
“We had this ‘Bullpen Mafia’ thing where the bullpen guys really enjoyed coming in with runners on base,” Salas said. “The inherited runners was big thing for us that year, making sure that we took care of the people in front of us and cleaning up each other’s messes. That ‘Bullpen Mafia’ thing blew up. We got [former UM pitcher and MLB All-Star] Chris Perez involved and it was awesome. It was a really, really fun rallying cry for all of us.”
While the pitching was strong, Carey led the team with a .339 average and 14 runs scored during the streak. Collins, who began his UM career 0-for-17, was red-hot during the win streak, batting .327 with nine extra-base hits and 19 RBI.
“We were kind of struggling in the beginning, but during that 14-game win streak, it wasn’t all about you or all about your stats,” Collins said. “It was about the team and how could we continue to win games day in and day out. In the ACC, we played some tough teams and it seemed like whether we were down in the last three innings or late in the game, we knew that someone was going to come through and pick each other up and get the job done.”
CANES BEING CANES
Miami’s 2014 roster featured an abundance of talent under the tutelage of two-time national champion head coach Jim Morris. Known as “Three,” Morris maintained the standard of excellence established before him by legendary head coach Ron Fraser. But Morris trusted his players and, more importantly, his team leaders, to keep the squad focused, while also having fun.
“That was one of the years where ‘Three’ understood the leadership we had in the locker room,” Salas said. “He understood that there were veteran presences in there and he kind of let us police the situation and he trusted us. I think ‘Three’ trusted the older guys, he trusted that we were helping the younger guys develop. Personally, I love to see the young guys. I love to see Willie and [Jacob] Heyward and Zack and Bryan. That freshman class was so special. Not because of what they did on the field, but how they carried themselves off the field. There were never any problems in the locker room. We didn’t have to teach them how to act. They were very mature and they understood that they would have to play a big role in our senior success. The seniors relied on them and they relied on us.”
The Canes came together and started to have some fun on the field. With that, they found their stride and went on an unbelievable run.
“’Three’ let us take control of the bus and we had a lot of fun playing a lot of music,” Abreu said. “We were being ourselves. He really let us be who we wanted to be and have fun with it. It was a lot of fun. He was great. He never let us take the foot off the gas and when we slipped up a little bit, he made sure to put us back in our place. He let us be ourselves and he let us play our game and, obviously, it worked out.”
Part of the fun that year was the secret “Sweep Selfies.” Unbeknownst to Morris, the team would gather together and take the photo after winning all three games in a weekend series.
“Willie had this thing where we used to do this ‘Sweep Selfie’ in centerfield,” Salas said. “We would literally run out there with a GoPro once a game ended and take a selfie in centerfield and it’s hilarious because I still have all these photos on my phone. I look at them sometimes and I’m like, ‘This is like so crazy to think of that we were taking selfies in centerfield.’”
Then there is the story of the “Sweep Tees.” Miami director of baseball operations Robert “G.M.” McDaniel gives the players T-shirts after the team takes every game in a series. But the Canes swept so often in 2014 that the “Sweep Tees” stopped appearing.
“It was so much fun. I know I’ll never forget it. We’re taking sweep selfies and it felt like we were sweeping every weekend. At first we were getting sweep tees and then, all of a sudden, G.M. just stopped giving them to us because we were sweeping every weekend. We never lost. It was really crazy. We just got so used to winning and I think it just changed the culture so quickly.”
The streak began with the midweek shutout of FGCU at The Light and featured series sweeps at NC State and at Virginia Tech, as well as a sweep of Pitt in Coral Gables. Add in a 10-1 midweek win over Bethune-Cookman and victories at UCF and over FAU at Alex Rodriguez Park and Miami won 13 in a row before taking the series opener from Notre Dame on April 19 in walk-off fashion.
“We had that confidence that we literally could do nothing wrong,” Collins said. “That’s what the Nationals did this year in the World Series. Nobody thought the Nationals were going to go to the World Series a month into the season, but they got hot at the end and they continued to have that confidence. It was the same way for us, showing up to the ballpark knowing that no matter who was pitching, no matter who we were playing, that we’re going to win and that was the main goal.”
THE STREAK IS SNAPPED, BUT THE CANES STAY HOT
Miami fell to the Fighting Irish on April 20 to snap the streak, but continued it winning ways on the next day to take the series from Notre Dame and start a 13-2 run to end the regular season.
“Those series, a lot of them we swept,” Salas said. “We swept ACC series, which is really hard to do. It was just a fun, fun, locker room. A lot of fun chemistry, we knew we were going to win before the game started. We had a lot of fun with each other and we really enjoy each other’s success.”
The team chemistry that was lacking early in the season had completely changed. A unified Miami team bulldozed through the rest of its schedule, sweeping No. 20 Clemson, Duke and North Carolina to wrap up ACC play with a 24-6 record.
“What was really special about that team was we had such a mix of seniors and freshmen,” Salas said. “We had one of the biggest senior classes, especially when I was there in my four years, and had such a great freshman class. We were able to work through these things and, once that winning streak started, like something clicked on that team and we never lost that. I think that was a magical run. We had so many close games. We got a couple of walk-offs and we won on the road. We felt pretty much invincible.”
“We had so many guys,” Abreu said. “I don’t think people give credit to the guys that were here before us like Dale Carey and Tyler Palmer, Javi Salas, Bryan Radziewski and Chris Diaz. These are guys that were animals. They were great for us and they were great leaders. They struggled with us and they went through all those battles. Those guys were there working day in and day out to keep the program where it was and teach us young guys the ropes. They never shied away from helping us and they taught us the way.”
“I think that’s probably the biggest thing in baseball,” Collins added. “No matter how much talent you have, you can see it every year in professional baseball, not just in college. No matter how much talent you have, you have to have that team chemistry and you have to know that and everybody’s got each other’s back, no matter what. … Just becoming brothers and having a lot of fun is huge.”
The Hurricanes entered the postseason ranked as high as No. 3 in the polls, but fell short of their goal to reach the College World Series.
“We didn’t make it to Omaha but, if we did, I really, really think that team had a really good chance of going places,” Salas said. “Unfortunately, we just didn’t hit the last weekend of the year and that kind of set our place in history. But that team was hot, really hot.”
After falling to Texas Tech on the second day of the Coral Gables Regional, the Canes battled back from the loser’s bracket to win two games on June 1, dropping Bethune-Cookman, 10-0, before winning a 10-inning thriller against Texas Tech, 2-1, to force one more game against the Red Raiders the following day.
SETTING THE TABLE FOR GREATNESS
While Miami fell to Texas Tech and saw its season end earlier than it would have liked, the 2014 season showed that the Hurricanes were primed for a major run in the years to come. And that is exactly what the Canes did, making back-to-back trips to the College World Series in 2015 and 2016.
“That year was the base,” Abreu said. “It was for so many guys. [David Thompson] was a sophomore, we were freshmen and we had a big, huge freshman class and so many of us made big impacts at that time. Zack was the Freshman of the Year. Bryan Garcia and Cooper Hammond, those guys were the horses in the bullpen and they were freshmen. It was something that really helped us build a lot of confidence and know that we could beat anybody. That win streak definitely set a huge tone in what we were able to accomplish in our careers.”
But Abreu, who starred at Miami for three seasons before being selected in the sixth round of the 2016 draft by the Colorado Rockies, knows Miami’s incredible two-year run in 2015-16 would not have been possible without the team’s turnaround in 2014 and the leadership the 2014 veterans bestowed on young players like himself, Collins, Garcia and so many others.
“Yeah, we were very talented,” Abreu said. “But we worked hard because of those guys pushing us. Those guys didn’t let us take the foot off the gas. It was a blessing to be able to have guys like that around us every single day showing us what this could be. They were the ones that obviously kept us close, kept us together and kept us working hard and set us up for what would come to be two of the best years Miami has had.”
