It was a strong start to the ACC Tournament in Charlotte for the Miami Hurricanes baseball team. The Canes won two games handily on Wednesday and Thursday to advance to the tournament semifinals against Georgia Tech.
Miami first dispatched of Stanford 11-2 on Wednesday, with team ace Rob Evans throwing a seven-inning gem to lock down the Cardinal.
Then, on Thursday, it was Lazaro Collera’s turn to keep Boston College under wraps. He allowed two runs over five innings to get the win as the Canes bounced the Eagles 8-2 in the quarterfinals. It was a bit of revenge for Miami, as BC took two out of three in Coral Gables earlier this year.
However, on Saturday morning, the Canes ran into the buzzsaw that is the Yellow Jackets. Georgia Tech belted a pair of two-run homers to left center in the first and third innings, and Miami couldn’t catch up in a 9-3 loss to end their time in Charlotte. Not unexpected, as Tech has been an absolute machine this year and should be the No. 2 national seed when this weekend is over.
So, where do things stand for Miami? Based on Baseball America and D1 Baseball’s projections, the Canes appear set to be a 2 seed in the region of one of the eight national seeds. BA has Miami at No. 5 Texas, and D1 also has the Canes going to Austin, except with Texas as the No. 6 national seed.
At this point, it does feel like the Canes are locked in as a two seed in some region, and if they’re one of the lower two seeds, they’ll surely find themselves in the bracket of one of the national seeds.
Oh well. Baseball is a weird and wonky sport, and anything can happen. We’ll see where Miami is placed on Monday.
Go Canes!