Special to CollegeBaseballInsider.com
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – If you are a first-round pick and a pitcher, you might want to steer clear from the Miami Hurricanes.
Four first-round picks either have started a game against Miami or accounted for a decision in relief, and the Hurricanes have won all four games.
The list includes Florida left-hander A.J. Puk, who went sixth overall to the Oakland A’s; Pitt right-hander T.J. Zeuch, who went 21st to the Toronto Blue Jays; and Louisville right-hander Zack Burdi, who went 26th to the Chicago White Sox.
Boston College right-hander Justin Dunn, who went 19th to the Mets, was the latest to activate the trend as his Eagles lost to Miami 12-7 on Friday night in the opener of a best-of-three Super Regional. The game was delayed for two hours because of rain and took and additional 3:56 to complete.
Dunn, who celebrated his draft selection Thursday night at Duffy’s Sports Grill in Coconut Grove with an Eagles party of 40 players and coaches, was cruising early.
He struck out four of the first eight Miami batters – including fellow first-round pick Zack Collins on a high fastball. But with one out and none on in the third, Carl Chester slapped a hard grounder that bounced off Dunn’s right leg for a single.
“It hurt,” Dunn said. “It was kind of nagging me the rest of the way.”
BC coaches and trainers came out to check on Dunn, who stayed in the game and allowed the next batter, Randy Batista, to drop a perfect bunt single, inches inside the third-base line.
Collins, a patient hitter who leads the nation with 70 walks and entered the game with a sublime .534 on-base percentage, ambushed Dunn’s first pitch, pulling his shot over the wall in right-center field, smacking off the parking garage.
“I tried to execute a fastball away,” Dunn said.
Collins added: “I’m a patient hitter, but if he’s going to throw me a first-pitch fastball, I’m going to be aggressive.”
One batter later, Johnny Ruiz hit a solo home run to cap a four-run inning and giving Miami a 4-1 lead. Ruiz added a grand slam in the eighth inning and finished with a career-high five RBI. Before Friday, the junior only had two career homers.
Miami sophomore Mike Mediavilla (11-1), pitching the opener of a series for the first time, threw a career-high 123 pitches and earned the win. He lasted 7.2 innings, allowing four hits, three walks and three runs. He struck out seven and his pitch count also was the most for any Hurricane this season.
Dunn, who entered the game with a 1.49 ERA, lasted 5.1 innings and 96 pitches. He allowed six hits, two walks and five runs as his ERA soared to 2.06. He also hit a batter, and the five runs allowed were a season high.
Asked about his star-power matchup against Collins, Dunn had an interesting perspective.
“I don’t look at it as two first-round picks going up against each other,” Dunn said. “I look at it as two guys trying to get to [the College World Series] in Omaha.
“[Collins] went where he went because he can swing it.”
The entire Miami team can as well, as evidenced by the fact that the Canes have hit more than twice as many homers as the Eagles this year – 46-19. And Collins, with his 40th career homer on Friday, became the eighth Miami player to reach that milestone.
The Hurricanes had four players in Friday’s game who were drafted earlier in the day or on Thursday. Dunn is the only BC draftee so far this week.
Besides Collins, who went 10th to the White Sox, Miami had right fielder Willie Abreu (sixth round by the Rockies), closer Bryan Garcia (sixth round, Tigers) and shortstop Brandon Lopez (10th round, Twins) drafted.
The winner of the series advances to the eight-team College World Series, which starts June 18 in Omaha, Neb. BC has not qualified for the CWS in 49 years.
The Eagles (34-21) now are in a must-win situation in a place where the Eagles rarely win. BC is 1-14 at Mark Light Stadium, with the lone win coming in 2010.
Miami (49-11), the No. 3 national seed, trailed 1-0 when the game changed in the third inning.
EAGLES RALLY LATE
BC scored four runs in the ninth against the bottom of Miami’s bullpen to make the game closer. Miami needed four relievers in the ninth and had to bring in closer Bryan Garcia to nail down his 17th save of the season and No. 42 for his career.
“I love what we did in that last inning,” Eagles coach Mike Gambino said. “It would have been easy to just go away.”
BC SUPPORT
The Eagles, who had about 100 fans from Boston in the stands and also had 2015 first-rounder Chris Shaw pick up the tab for the party at Duffy’s Sports Grill, now face their first elimination game of the season.
“It was really cool the support we received,” Gambino said. “We had a lot of our former players there to support our boys.”
NEXT UP
In Saturday’s game: BC will throw junior right-hander Mike King (7-4, 3.21) against Miami’s junior left-hander, Danny Garcia (9-3, 3.50).
There was a 40 percent chance of rain when it poured on Friday. There is a 50 percent chance of rain on Saturday and an 80 percent on Sunday.
MIAMI VS. FIRST-ROUNDERS
- Puk went 2.2 innings and allowed five hits and three runs, taking the loss.
- Zeuch went 5.2 innings and allowed seven hits, three walks and four runs. He escaped with a no-decision.
- Burdi allowed five hits and four runs in one inning of relief, taking the loss.
(photo by JD Ridley)