Miami baseball drops their home regional

The Miami Hurricanes dropped two games to the Texas Longhorns in the Coral Gables regional hosted at Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Stadium. Gino DiMare’s club finished the season with a 42-21 final record, but having only finished 18-12 in the ACC.

The entire season was riding on the bat of Yohandy Morales and he didn’t disappoint. Yo-Yo finished his Miami career with 49 home runs, including 20 in the ‘23 season. Morales is now 4th all-time in HR’s for the Hurricanes and his .408 batting average is 7th all-time for UM.

Besides Morales, only two other regular starters hit above .300 for Miami; CJ Kayfus and Blake Cyr hit .347 and .306, respectively. Miami relied heavily on the long ball and hit 122 home runs as a team, led by Morales and followed up by Cyr (17) and Zach Levinson (14).

While the bullpen had gems like All-American Andrew Walters and all-regional Rafe Schlesinger, the starters were shaky at best this season. The staff ace, Gage Ziehl, posted a 4.30 ERA and 1.23 WHIP.

Karson Ligon’s ERA was 4.80 over 10 starts, and Alejandro Rosario’s 7.34 ERA over 14 starts showed desperation by pitching coach JD Arteaga. Walters finished the season 4-0 with 12 saves and a 1.21 ERA.

The highlights of the season were upsetting top-ranked Wake Forest in the ACC tournament, sweeping the Florida State Seminoles at The Light, and taking 2-of-3 from UNC on the road in Chapel Hill.

On the bright side to a disappointing ending in the home regional, Miami has zero seniors on the ‘23 roster. The ‘Canes could return the entire team, depending on draft status, in 2024. However, I would expect Walters and Morales to leave after the MLB Draft which will take place July 9-11 in Seattle, WA.