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Martell Is Money

The University of Miami football program announced Tuesday that the National Collegiate Athletic Association has approved a waiver for quarterback Tate Martell, which makes him immediately eligible for competition.

"We are pleased with this ruling and appreciate the NCAA recognizing that this waiver met the criteria under the membership established guidelines," Director of Athletics Blake James said. "We would like to thank the NCAA, as well as Ohio State University, for their assistance and support throughout the waiver process. We look forward to seeing Tate compete for Miami this season."
 

Martell, a redshirt sophomore from Las Vegas, transferred to UM from Ohio State in January. He has three seasons of eligibility remaining.

Canes Kept A Rollin' (All Night Long)

It took a little longer than they would have liked, but the Miami Hurricanes' bats came alive to push them past Jackson State, 8-1.
 
The Canes (14-3, 2-1 ACC) struggled offensively early, but Adrian Del Castillo sparked a four-run fifth inning and never looked back. The victory over the Tigers (6-13, 1-2 SWAC) secured a midweek sweep of Jackson State to close out an 8-1 record over the nine-game homestand. It also tied the best start by the Hurricanes since opening the 2016 season 14-3.
 
"They threw some guys that our guys hadn't seen a lot of," head coach Gino DiMare said. "The velocity was not high. They were throwing a lot of junk at us and our guys struggled. It's not something we've practiced a lot of because we don't face a whole lot of it. Having said that, the fifth inning was huge.

Miami, who was held hitless for 4.1 innings, finally broke through with a big inning off lefty reliever Mario Lopez in the fifth. Del Castillo's RBI single to center was the first Hurricane hit of the night and it drove home Lala to put Miami ahead, 2-1. Alex Toral followed with his ninth home run of the season, a three-run bomb to right that gave the Canes a four-run lead, 5-1.
 
"I feel like hitting is contagious and once Del Castillo got that line drive to break it open to center field, it boosts the confidence for the next guy and that happened to be me," Toral said. "I happened to get my pitch and was able to do what I was able to do with it."
 
Del Castillo singled home another run in the sixth, smacking a two-out hit to right off reliever Garth Cahill that pushed home Lala and gave Miami a 6-1 lead. An inning later, Chad Crosbie added a two-out RBI single to right that gave the Hurricanes a 7-1 advantage.

"I was very happy with our bullpen the last two days," DiMare said. "It's something that we've had some question marks and concerns. Last night, Maury, Veliz and Fed all threw great and then you had Mixon come in and throw good and so did Gates. They pounded the strike zone, which is all I can ask of those guys, throw strikes, go after hitters, especially when you have leads and they did that. I was very, very happy with our bullpen."
 
Miami hits the road this weekend for an ACC series at North Carolina. The Hurricanes and Tar Heels will open the series on Friday at 6 p.m. Saturday's game is scheduled for a 2 p.m. start, while Sunday's finale will begin at 1 p.m.

DiMare Is Delivering

The wind was blowing out Sunday afternoon and the Miami Hurricanes hit a pair of homers to secure a 9-6 win over Georgia Tech.
 
Miami's bats came alive in the series finale, as the Canes (12-3, 2-1 ACC) smacked 10 hits and put up nine runs to secure a series win in their first weekend of ACC play. The Hurricanes needed every bit of their offensive explosion, as the Yellow Jackets (10-6, 1-2 ACC) made a late charge in the ninth to try and steal a win on getaway day.  

"It's a good start, especially after losing the first game and it was a hard-fought where we almost had a chance to win it at the end in the last at-bat," head coach Gino DiMare said. "For us to bounce back and win it in the last at-bat the next night, that makes that home run even bigger now because it gave us an opportunity to win the series and we did and that's a great start."
 
Georgia Tech's Tristin English continued his torrid series against Miami, hitting a two-run homer in the first inning off Hurricanes' starter Brian Van Belle. The blast was English's third of the weekend and gave the Yellow Jackets a 2-0 lead.
 

"I just wanted to keep the ball down," Van Belle said. "On that pitch, I hung a change-up and I knew he got all of it. After that, my main focus was to keep the ball down and attack the hitters low in the zone." 
 
But Saturday night's hero Freddy Zamora stayed hot in his first at-bat Sunday, mashing a two-run homer over the scoreboard in left field that landed on the Cobb Stadium track and tied the game at 2-2.
 
"He's definitely the best player in the series, for sure," DiMare said. "Freddy has made some big strides lately. I can tell in practice and pregame, just his preparation has been outstanding. If he keeps that up, he could be the best shortstop in the country."
 
Gabe Rivera, who made his first start of the season Sunday, hit a two-out triple to center that drove home Michael Amditis and extended Miami's lead to three, 5-2. Tech starter Brant Hurter hit Jordan Lala with a 1-1 fastball and GT head coach Danny Hall lifted the left-hander in favor of right-handed pitcher Amos Willingham.
 
Vilar plated two more runs in the sixth, as the freshman ripped a 1-2 pitch from Willingham for a double off the left field wall that gave the Hurricanes a 7-2 advantage.
 

"It gives you a lot of momentum," Van Belle said of the team's prolific offense. "I feel like at any time in the game, anyone in the lineup from top to bottom can crank one and that's exactly what happened in the first inning. I gave up a two-run bomb and then when we came up to bat Freddy cranked one and put us back in a good spot."

With two outs in the Alex Toral crushed a solo homer off reliever Micah Carpenter that hit off the third deck of the parking garage beyond the right field fence to make it 8-2. But the first baseman's team-leading eighth homer of the season was Miami's sixth of the series and 23^rdof the year, tying the 2018 Hurricanes' total season homer tally.
 

"It says a lot about the job [Norberto Lopez] has done as a hitting coach and what [Brian Gabriel] has done as our strength coach and the work they've done getting stronger, but, most importantly, it says a lot about our players and how they've made a commitment," DiMare said.

"One of the things we stressed was that we needed to be better offensively and they're working behind the scenes to make sure we are. They're working their tails off doing early work on their own before practice and extra work after practice to get better and you can see the fruits of their labor coming to fruition. It's amazing that we have tied that already."
 
The Canes will wrap up a nine-game homestand this coming Tuesday and Wednesday, as they welcome Jackson State to The Light for a midweek series. Both games are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.

One Thing Is Constant: Change

The University of Miami -- in conjunction with the University of Florida, Florida Citrus Sports, ESPN and CFB150, Inc. – announced Thursday that the Hurricanes' season opener against Florida in the Camping World Kickoff has been moved to Saturday, Aug. 24.
 
The game, which will be held at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, was originally scheduled for Aug. 31. The date change was approved by the NCAA Thursday. The matchup will be televised by ESPN at 7 p.m. ET. 
 
Manny Diaz's first game as head coach of the Hurricanes will also be UM's first meeting with Florida since 2013, a 21-16 Miami home win. The series started in 1938 and this is the first time the two teams have played at a neutral site in the regular season since Miami's 32-20 win at Tampa Stadium in 1984. Miami leads the overall series, 29-26, and have won seven of the past eight meetings. 
 

"ESPN approached both UM and Florida with the unique idea to broadcast this matchup as the culmination of a daylong celebration of college football's 150th anniversary season," Director of Athletics Blake James said. "After consulting with Manny, we agreed that this would be a tremendous opportunity to showcase Hurricanes football – both our present team and our long, storied tradition – on a national stage.  
 
"I want to thank the NCAA, ESPN, Florida Citrus Sports, CFB150, Inc., and the University of Florida for their cooperation and support throughout this process. We understand that the new game date could affect Hurricanes fans who had already made travel plans for the original game date. We will work diligently with any of those affected to help ensure that they can still attend the Camping World Kickoff and have a great experience."
 
Both schools have had conversations with primary air carriers asking that they provide relief for fans who need to change their plans. Florida Citrus Sports is also in contact with the Orlando tourism and lodging community and will enlist their support to accommodate travel revisions prompted by the change in date.

'Canes Pound Panthers

Playing in their regular-season home finale, redshirt senior guard Zach Johnson, senior center Ebuka Izundu and senior guard Anthony Lawrence II led the charge with 53 combined points, as the University of Miami men's basketball team topped Pittsburgh, 76-63, Tuesday on Senior Night at the Watsco Center.
 
Making his 127th appearance for Miami (13-16, 5-12 ACC), Lawrence notched a career-high 27 points and pulled down 11 rebounds, recording his fourth double-double in the past eight games. Izundu recorded with his ninth career double-double, posting 14 points and a game-high 14 rebounds.
 
The duo were joined in double figures by sophomore guard Dejan Vasiljevic (13 points) and Johnson (12 points). Overall, the Hurricanes shot 27-of-63 (42.9 percent) from the field, while dominating the Panthers in the paint, 36-20, and out-rebounding Pitt, 38-34. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh closed out the contest shooting 21-of-48 (43.8 percent) from the field.
 
Pittsburgh (12-18, 2-15 ACC) was led offensively by Jared Wilson-Frame, as the senior posted 18 points and shot 6-of-11 from beyond the arc. The guard was joined by Xavier Johnson (10 points) and Kene Chukwuka (10 points) in double figures.
 

Following a free throw by Terrell Brown with 18:18 remaining in the opening half, Pitt took an early 1-0 lead. Moments later, Izundu finished a jumper to give the Canes an advantage they would never relinquish, extending their lead to as much as 11 and to double figures a trio of times in the half. However, a 3-pointer by Wilson-Frame with just four seconds remaining in the period cut the halftime lead to just five, 36-31.
 
Out of the break, Izundu and Lawrence took over, together outscoring Pitt 18-16 through the opening 9:14 of the half. During the stretch, Lawrence shot a perfect 3-of-3 from deep and 4-of-4 from the field.
 
Leading by seven with under two minutes to play, Miami closed out the final 1:41 of action outscoring the Panthers, 9-3.
 
The Hurricanes will close out the regular season Friday at 7 p.m., when they travel to Blacksburg, Va., to battle No. 15/16 Virginia Tech. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN2.

Twenty Is Plenty

One day after leaving 14 runners on, the Miami Hurricanes exploded for 20 runs to secure a series sweep of UMBC with a 20-1 win on Sunday afternoon.
 
Raymond Gil hit two of Miami's five home runs, while every starting Miami infielder hit a homer at Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field, helping the Canes (9-2) get off to their best start since opening the 2013 season 10-1.
 

"We were just focused from the beginning," Gil said. "Everyone bought into the scouting report and we put some good swings. Yesterday we hit the ball hard, it was just going at people. We stuck with the same approach and the ball was falling more today."
 
UMBC (2-4) scored first in the series finale, as second baseman AJ Wright pushed Blaze O'Saben home with a one-out sacrifice fly to left in the top of the first. But that is all the offense Miami starter Brian Van Belle allowed, earning his second win of the season after holding UMBC to a lone unearned run on two hits over six innings while posting a career-best nine strikeouts. 
 
"I feel like I got off to a slow start," Van Belle said. "I didn't have my best stuff today, but after the first inning the offense obviously got a hold of a lot of balls and put a lot of runs on the board and that gave us a lot of momentum for the game."
 
Miami's offense answered in the bottom of the inning with a quartet of two-out hits and never looked back. Shortstop Freddy Zamora got the rally started with a double down the third base line before right fielder Adrian Del Castillo tied the game with an RBI double to right to push Zamora home and tie the game at 1. 
 

The Canes jumped ahead, 2-1, after an RBI single to center from Alex Toral drove Del Castillo home from second and Gil singled to left to round out the two-out hit parade in the first.
 
Anthony Vilar, who had the game-winning hit on Saturday night, stayed hot on Saturday. The freshman crushed his first career homer, belting a two-run shot to right off UMBC starter Nick Trabacchi to give Miami a 4-1 lead in the second inning.
 
The Canes added another homer in the third, as Gil smashed his third home run of the season deep to left to give Miami a 5-1 lead. Trabacchi, who allowed seven runs on seven hits over three-plus innings pitched, allowed two of Miami's five home runs on Sunday afternoon.
 
"Once we got up a little bit, you could just feel it," head coach Gino DiMare said. "Last night their dugout was into the game and they were getting after it. Once we got up after three innings, their dugout was dead."

Women Do It Better

The University of Miami women's basketball team defeated Georgia Tech, 69-56, Thursday evening in its regular season home finale.

Redshirt junior forward Beatrice Mompremier turned a dominant 22-point, 16-rebound performance, as No. 15 Miami (24-6, 12-3 ACC) trailed for just three minutes and nine seconds of action.

"That was our last non-March game," Miami head coach Katie Meier said. "We have a lot to learn and we have to get after it and get ready for March."

Mompremier tallied eight points and seven rebounds in the first period alone, including scoring a game-opening basket to surpass 1,000 points in her career. However, Georgia Tech (17-11, 7-8 ACC) held a 14-13 lead through 10 minutes of action.

Miami held the Yellow Jackets to eight points in the second frame and ended it on a 9-2 run to take a 30-22 edge at the break. Mompremier posted a first-half double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds in 18 minutes of action.

The Hurricanes continued to extend their advantage in the third period, closing it by making six of their last eight shots, including five straight to begin that span. Miami took a then-game-high 15-point cushion, 52-37, into the final quarter.

Miami pushed its lead as high as 18 in the last session and never let Georgia Tech get any closer than 12, en route to the 13-point triumph.

Mompremier led all players in both points and rebounds to compile her conference-leading 22nd double-double, including her 12th in 14 ACC outings. The Miami native, who added a season- and game-high four blocks, notched her sixth 20-point game and fifth 15-rebound showing of the season.

"We're expanding her shot chart," Meier said of Mompremier. "She used the back-to-the basket post-up when she showed up. She's showing a lot of versatility. You have to move her around and she's handling it really well."

Sophomore guard Mykea Gray totaled 18 points in the win, finishing 7-of-9 from the floor and 3-of-4 from long range. Redshirt junior guard Laura Cornelius paced all players in both assists (eight) and steals (four), each tied for the second-most of her career.

Freshman guard Elizabeth Balogun led the Yellow Jackets with 15 points, but Miami held her to 1-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc. Freshman forward Elizabeth Dixon added 12 points for Georgia Tech.

The Hurricanes, who conceded just one fast-break point, led for 36 minutes and 10 seconds of action. They held Georgia Tech to just 34.8 percent shooting (23-of-66) on the night.

With the triumph, Miami tied for the fifth-most wins in school history and reached 24 for the ninth time overall. In addition, the Hurricanes tied for the second-most ACC wins in program history and reached 12 for the third time overall.

Canes Crush Clemson (In Tennis)

The No. 35 University of Miami men's tennis team wrapped up the weekend in dominant fashion, posting a 7-0 victory over Clemson Sunday afternoon at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center.
 
Following the victory, Miami (8-3, 2-0 ACC) ended a seven-match losing streak against the Tigers (6-6, 0-2 ACC), while also opening ACC action 2-0 for the first time since beginning conference play 3-0 during the 2011 season.
 
"Great effort by our guys to get back-to-back ACC victories," head coach Aljosa Piric said. "It is always tough to win back-to-back games in the ACC and for our guys to come out today and win the doubles point and then go out and win six singles matches, two days after beating Georgia Tech, just shows that our guys are ready to compete. Looking forward to seeing what these guys are capable of doing moving forward. We will take a couple days off before returning to practice in order to get ready for College Match Day against UCF, up in Orlando."

The Hurricanes jumped out to the early lead through doubles action and never looked back.
 
Competing at No. 3 doubles, freshman Franco Aubone and Francisco Bastias posted a 6-4 victory over Teodor Giusca and Carlos Kelaidis.
 
Moments later, redshirt junior Dane Dunlap and junior Stephen Madonia defeated Yizhou Liu and Simon Baudry, 6-4, to clinch the doubles point for Miami.
 
Competing on court 1, sophomores Adria Soriano Barrera and Tatsuki Shimamoto held a 5-4 advantage over Pierre-Louis Dodens and Jacob Jahn before play was halted.
 
In singles, the Hurricanes continued to cruise winning the opening set on all six courts.

Better, Faster, Stronger

For the third time in four years, the University of Miami women are the ACC Indoor Champions. 
 
The Canes sealed the deal on Saturday night when the 4x400m relay team won the event with a time of 3:32.75, a Championship record. The team made up of Symone Mason, Brittny Ellis, Kayla Johnson and Samantha Gonzalez scored the final 10 points for the Canes to go ahead of the Florida State Seminoles in second place. Saturday's time ranks fourth in the UM record books. 

"The 4x400 really took ownership of that race tonight with the way they ran, especially running by themselves like that," UM head coach Amy Deem said. "They really stepped up tonight." 
 

"I'm extremely proud of the way our team stepped up today," Deem said. "The throwers and sprinters/hurdlers really carried our team today with some impressive performances. Obviously I'm happy with winning the Championship, but I'm also really proud of Brittny and Kayla for putting themselves in position for Nationals."
 
The ACC Indoor Pentathlon winner and the third-place finisher in the high jump, Michelle Atherley also finished fifth in the event. Atherley scored 22 overall points and 16 in the field to earn 2019 Track Indoor MVP accolades. She was also named the 2018 ACC Outdoor Track MVP.

The Miami women scored 66 points on the final day of competition and climbed four spots in order to win their third Indoor Championship in four years. The women have now won four ACC Championships in the same amount of years. 
 
The Canes dug deep for the points after a tough Day 2 of competition. Selina Dantzler got the final day of competition rolling for the Canes as the freshman earned her first conference medal and finished third in the women's shot put with a personal-best mark of 15.90m. The mark ranks fourth in UM history. 
 
Sophomore Tiara McMinn took off in the 60m hurdles final as she blew past her competition, tying the NCAA's second-fastest time of 7.95 seconds while setting a new personal best time. McMinn now boasts Miami's top time in the event.
 

The women kept their hot streak alive on the track as the senior Ellis kept her momentum from the prelims and won the 400m with a time of 52.66. Senior Carolyn Brown registered a personal-best time of 7.32 seconds in the women's 60m dash to take home the silver. Brown now holds the fifth-fastest time in program history. 
 
Johnson gave the Canes eight points in the women's 800m dash, with a new Miami record time of 2:05.21 and a second-place finish. 
 
The men didn't leave empty handed as newcomer Raheem Chambers not only broke the UM record in the 60 with his time of 6.62, but also earned second-place in a field of six FSU opponents. It took only three races for Chambers to break the school record. 
 
The men's 4x400m relay team gave the Seminoles a run for their money, pushing them in the final leg and finished second with a time of 3:12.04. McKinly Brown, Tyrees Moulton, Davonte Foster and Thomas Burns now hold the fourth-best time in Miami history. The men's team finished 11th, scoring 28 points.

Get Out Your Brooms!

Brian Van Belle overcame injuries and three years in junior college to get to the mound inside Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field on Sunday.
 
All of the obstacles were worth the wait, as the redshirt junior turned in a brilliant debut and earned his first win as a Hurricane. Van Belle struck out five and allowed just five hits over six shutout innings to help the Hurricanes (3-0) secure a sweep over Rutgers (0-3) with a 9-3 victory on Sunday afternoon. 
 
"I feel like my fastball was working really well," Van Belle said. "I kept it too high and I'd like to keep it lower. Other than that, I just tried to get quick contact and keep a fast tempo."
 

Van Belle was matched by Rutgers starter Tevin Murray over the first 2.2 innings of the game, as the junior lefty held Miami hitless in its first trip through the batting order. But back-to-back doubles from Tony Jenkins and Anthony Vilar ended the no-hit bid and the shut out, as Vilar's shot to the leftfield wall pushed Jenkins around to score. 
 
One batter later, Rutgers third baseman Carmen Sclafani threw a ball away trying to retire Freddy Zamora at first. Instead of ending the inning, Zamora ran all the way to third and Vilar scored from second to put Miami up, 2-0. Vilar finished the weekend 7-for-11 (.636) with four doubles, eight runs scored and four RBI.
 

Two innings later, Miami chased Murray from the game when it loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth. Vilar sparked the rally with a two-out base hit, while Zamora walked and Adrian Del Castillo was hit by a pitch before Murray was replaced by freshman right-hander Garrett French. The reliever threw a 1-2 wild pitch to the backstop that allowed Vilar to score and give the Hurricanes a 3-0 lead.
 
"Del Castillo has been special from Day 1, so we all knew that," head coach Gino DiMare said. "I was really, really impressed and certainly happy to see Vilar swing the bat. We faced some lefties and these guys hit off some lefties where they stayed in there and drove the ball the other way, which is a great sign for hitters."