Hurricanes Garner Third Preseason Top-25 Mark
CORAL GABLES, Fla. — The Miami Hurricanes baseball team collected its third preseason top-25 ranking Tuesday morning, checking in at No. 25 in D1Baseball’s preseason poll.
The Hurricanes were previously slotted 18th by Perfect Game and 23rd in Collegiate Baseball’s Fabulous 50 NCAA Division I Pre-season Poll.
Miami is one of six programs from the ACC listed in D1Baseball’s top-25, joining No. 10 NC State, No. 11 Florida State, No. 13 Notre Dame, No. 21 Georgia Tech and No. 23 Duke.
The complete poll can be viewed here.
The Hurricanes enter 2022 coming off a 33-21 campaign, including a 20-15 record in ACC play, in Gino DiMare’s third season as head coach. DiMare led Miami to seven conference series victories and tallied its most ACC wins in five years.
Left-handed pitcher Carson Palmquist and infielder Yohandy Morales were both named preseason All-Americans, with Palmquist earning first-team distinction from Perfect Game and second-team honors from Collegiate Baseball. Meanwhile, Morales was tabbed a third-team pick by Collegiate Baseball.
Palmquist garnered first-team All-America status by the NCBWA and Perfect Game, while collecting second-team distinction from Baseball America and D1Baseball a season ago. The 6-foot-3, 185-pound hurler posted an ACC-best 14 saves, which ranked third in the nation. He totaled a 2.22 ERA and 75 strikeouts over 44 2/3 innings pitched.
Morales, who was also chosen to Collegiate Baseball’s Freshman All-American Team as well as the All-ACC Freshman Team alongside Palmquist in 2021, led the Hurricanes with 13 doubles, 11 home runs, 45 RBI and 13 multi-RBI games.
Following a standout start to his postseason career, Morales was selected to the All-Gainesville Regional team after hitting a team-best .444 average. The Miami native batted .284 in his first go-around in the orange and green, starting all 53 games in which he appeared.
Miami also added the top recruiting class in the ACC, according to Baseball America. The Hurricanes’ class is made up of 18 newcomers, 11 freshmen and seven transfers.
Nine Hurricanes were listed among Perfect Game’s Top 500 incoming freshmen, including four in the top 200.
Right-handed pitcher Karson Ligon checked in at No. 41 overall while outfielder Lorenzo Carrier was tabbed No. 76. Right-hander Gage Ziehl, who was chosen in the 11th round of the 2021 MLB First-Year Player Draft by the Chicago Cubs, was rated 130th and outfielder/infielder Renzo Gonzalez was slotted No. 169.
