Miami Makes it Back
to Omaha
By David Furones
Special to CollegeBaseballInsider.com
@DavidFurones90
CORAL GABLES, Fla. –
The storied Miami Hurricanes are headed back to Omaha.
Behind an unexpected hero in reliever Sam Abrams, who was once
cut from the team, getting out of an early jam to change the
course of the game, Miami proceeded to pounce on Virginia
Commonwealth for a 10-3 victory on Saturday afternoon at Alex
Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field.
The
Hurricanes (49-15) swept the Coral Gables Super Regional in
two games and punched the first ticket to Omaha in 2015 – a
berth Jim Morris had been waiting seven years to clinch since
his last one in 2008.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve been to Omaha, so I’m very
excited, our coaches are very excited,” Morris said. “Our
players don’t know what’s getting ready to hit them –
something that we’re going to remember for the rest of our
lives.
“It’s very special because I got spoiled, just like our fans
and everybody else in this program. It just shows how hard it
is to get Omaha. It’s a tough thing to do.”
Miami advances to its 24th College World Series and
will face Florida in its first game in Omaha.
VCU
(40-25) had a historic season where it made its first Super
Regional come to an end.
“These things don’t end well for everyone but one team at the
end of the year, but just as proud of our guys, proud of our
athletic department, proud of our student-athletes, especially
proud of our seniors,” VCU coach Shawn Stiffler said.
Miami starter Thomas Woodrey made his exit with nobody out in
the third when he loaded the bases with three runs already
against him in the first two innings. Abrams came out of the
bullpen to get the Canes out of the pivotal bases-loaded,
no-out jam unscathed. He struck out the first two batters he
faced and then induced a fly out to right.
“[Pitching coach J.D. Arteaga] always tells us to go in there,
minimize damage,” said Abrams, a slow-throwing,
sidearm-delivering walk-on who was only eligible this season
because he was cut his sophomore season. “I go in there, I
throw strikes. That’s what I do, and I didn’t change that
today.”
Although early, getting out of that inning proved to be the
key as the Rams, who made it to Coral Gables advancing out of
the Dallas Regional as a No. 4 seed, could not score again.
Abrams was too cool in the hot spot.
“You
could see it today – out there with bases loaded and no outs –
he looked the same as he always does,” said Willie Abreu, who
caught the fly ball that ended the threat and had the crowd
erupting with a “Sam-my!” chant. “He could’ve been doing
something else. He almost just stopped playing this game
completely, and he fought through because of how much he loved
it.
“Basically, what we say here is ‘wear it,’ and he wore it for
a long time and look at how things pan out.”
The
Canes then took the lead in the fourth when Jacob Heyward
reached on a fielder’s choice, stole second, stole third and
scored on a passed ball. It would prove to be all Abrams
needed as he pitched a career-high four innings of shutout
baseball giving up just one hit to earn the win.
“I
think that the change of speed was the biggest thing. It was
pretty tough to hold your weight back,” said VCU center
fielder Logan Farrar, who led off the bottom of the first with
a home run for his only hit in five tries. “He threw from
submarine, so he ran the ball in and away from some of our
guys, right-handed or left-handed.”
The
Hurricanes broke the game open with five runs in the seventh
inning, hitting around the lineup to go up 9-3.
Abreu added one more in the top of the
ninth with a solo homer, and closer Bryan Garcia shut the door
in the ninth, inducing a Vimael Machin groundout to short to
end it and start the celebration.
Every starter in the Hurricanes lineup scored a run, and seven
of the nine drove one in against a VCU pitching staff that had
allowed three runs or fewer in 16 consecutive games coming in.
“Our
lineup, one through nine, has been producing all year,” said
David Thompson, who went 1 for 5 with two RBI to up his
nation-leading total to 87. “It’s just a lot of fun knowing
that there’s not a lot of pressure on one guy, and if you
fail, the guy behind you is going to pick you up.”
Woodrey, Miami’s Friday night starter
all season, went two-plus innings, allowing three earned runs
on three hits and walking another three before getting pulled
with the bases loaded in the third.
VCU
starter Heath Dwyer (10-3) lasted four innings, giving up four
runs (three earned) on five hits before Stiffler went to the
bullpen and closer Daniel Concepcion, who was solid in the
fifth and sixth before surrendering the five runs in the big
seventh inning for the Canes.
The
bats were electric for Miami from the start as its first three
hitters all reached with hits. Leadoff man Ricky Eusebio
started it up with a double down the left-field line, Chris
Barr singled and George Iskenderian brought Eusebio home on an
RBI base hit. David Thompson then drove home Barr on a
groundout.
VCU
cut that original 2-0 deficit in half in a big way in the
bottom of the first when Farrar drilled a leadoff homer to
right.
UM
got that run back in the second when Barr singled for the
second time, driving in Willie Abreu.
The
Rams responded by manufacturing two in their half of the
second – one on a passed ball and another when Walker Haymaker
reached on a fielder’s choice.
VCU
will have something to build on going forward.
“We’re definitely proud of our effort. We set the bar high for
further VCU teams,” Dwyer said. “It was our first time in a
Super Regional and it was new territory for us, but I think it
was a really positive experience for the guys.”
Notes
· Stiffler
felt he shrugged off any kind of mid-major label with VCU’s
run: “There’s nothing mid-major or Cinderella about us.
We’re not a 16-seed that beat a one-seed. We have
professional players that are going to play pro ball out
there on our team and guys who are going to move on to have
great careers in pro ball.”
· Saturday’s
outing marked the first time this season Miami starter went
fewer than five innings in a start.
