Are U Ready To Play Ball?

The University of Miami baseball team begins its 75^thseason in program history and first under the direction of head coach Gino DiMare on Friday, Feb. 15 with the opener of a three-game series against Rutgers at Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field. 
 
First pitch for the season opener is set for 7 p.m. Friday. The first 500 fans through the gates will receive a 2019 schedule magnet. First pitch for Saturday's game is set for 7 p.m., and the first 1,000 fans will receive a t-shirt. First pitch for Sunday's series finale is set for noon.

All home games this season will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra. Friday and Saturday's games will be broadcast live on 790 The Ticket, while Sunday's game will be carried in Spanish on 990 AM ESPN Deportes. All baseball games, home and away, can be heard on WVUM 90.5 FM and WVUM.org. 
 
Junior right-hander and 2018 All-ACC selection Evan McKendry (7-6, 3.52 ERA)earned the Opening Day start opposite Rutgers RHP Serafino Brito (1-2, 3.57 ERA).
 
Sophomore RHP Chris McMahon (1-1, 4.44 ERA) will take the mound for the Canes on Saturday against fellow sophomore LHP Harry Rutkowski (4-6. 5.34 ERA).
 
Newcomer Brian Van Belle will make his Miami debut in the series finale Sunday, as the redshirt junior right-hander will face off against junior lefty Tevin Murray (0-1, 5.09 ERA).

ACC All-Freshman honoree and 2018 Freshman All-America shortstop Freddy Zamora is back to lead a young and talented Miami offense. Zamora, who led Miami is nearly every offensive category a year ago, is joined by pitcher Daniel Federman and catcher Isaac Quiñones as 2018 Freshmen All-America honorees back for their sophomore season in 2019.
 
Miami added a recruiting class ranked eighth by D1Baseball and No. 10 nationwide by Baseball America to a group of 18 returning letterwinners from a 2018 team that finished 28-26 overall and 16-13 in ACC play.
 
Three members of Miami's recruiting class were selected in the 2018 MLB First-Year Player Draft; catcher Adrian Del Castillo (36th round, White Sox), infielder Anthony Vilar (37th round, Cubs) and RHP Slade Cecconi (38th round, Orioles) all spurned professional overtures for a career at Miami after being selected in the 2018 MLB Draft.
 
Cecconi (#2), Del Castillo (#8) and Vilar (#48) were among the Top 50 Impact Freshmen in the ACC according to D1Baseball. Freshman LHP/UT JP Gates was ranked 10th among ACC freshmen. Baseball America rated Cecconi (No. 12), Gates (No. 16) and Del Castillo (No. 31) among the top 50 freshmen nationally. 

The Hurricanes' home schedule also includes series with Georgia Tech (March 8-10), NC State (March 22-24), Florida State (April 5-7), Virginia Tech (April 26-28) and Duke (May 16-18), among others.

Miami's road schedule includes trips to Florida (Feb. 22-24), North Carolina (March 15-17), Pittsburgh (March 29-31), Virginia (April 12-14), Louisville (April 18-20) and Wake Forest (May 10-12).

Comments

[VA Cane]

Hello all Thank you all so much...love you all!
This is for Katherine my Mom...she would love you too! She heard many blog stories and saw many VT UM games..God bless you all!!!

[58 Straight]

Those were the days...

[Terrance Sullivan]

Boom Baby

[nemo2002]

4 me

[thirstybuzzardcane]

This is interesting!!! Maybe Martell is going to be eligible?

https://twitter.com/Jarren2Williams/status/1096406624909094920?s=19

[Terrance Sullivan]

Or Maybe he is taking his job seriously something that Porn Guy and Weed Guy is not doing. The more players take this approach the better to many of the team last year stayed on Social Media more than they played.

[DeeCane]

Williams is definitely taking it seriously because he knws it will be a real competition this year... he has the inside track tbh... Perry will be a career backup from this point on and I dont think Martell will be granted the waiver

[Terrance Sullivan]

Preach DeeCane and if Martell gets Waiver Porn Guy will be 3rd string and Weed Guy will be 4th String and the True Freshman can redshirt(I mean play 4 Games)

[Go Canes!!]

Clemson is sticking at No. 1.

A month removed from their decisive national championship victory over Alabama, the Tigers top the first 2019 rankings for the Football Power Index (FPI) -- ahead of the Crimson Tide, again.

The same was true last year, though 12 months ago Clemson being in the top spot was more controversial and was fueled by a roster stacked with defenders now headed to the NFL. This year, the Tigers boast the nation's best offense, led by quarterback sensation Trevor Lawrence.

It's not too difficult to understand why Trevor Lawrence and Clemson sit atop the FPI rankings. Harry How/Getty Images
While Clemson's 44-16 drubbing of the Tide might have college football fans recalibrating their expectations for Nick Saban's team, make no mistake -- it's still Clemson and Alabama and then everyone else. The difference in rating between No. 2-ranked Alabama (plus-27.6) and No. 3-ranked Georgia (plus-22.0) is the same as the Bulldogs' advantage over 10th-ranked Oregon (plus-16.4). Clemson ranks first in offense and second in defense; Alabama is vice versa.

Clemson is predicted to be better than every other team in the country, so it makes sense that we're forecasting the Tigers to have a dominating edge over every other team in the conference. The ACC is thin on upper-tier teams. In fact, after Clemson, it has basically ... nothing. Clemson is more than 17 points per game better than every other team in the ACC. Our conference and playoff projections won't be out for a couple of months, but it's safe to say that the Tigers' outlook for both of those will be awfully strong.

At this point, if you're wondering how FPI works, jump to the bottom for a quick explainer. And if you want to see last year's rankings at this time, you can check them out here -- where you'll find not only Clemson ahead of Alabama, but Notre Dame in the top five, a major surprise to most back then.

But let's shift back to 2019 now -- because there's another story of dominance brewing aside from the Tigers.

Superior SEC

This is something you won't see in any of the preseason polls. The SEC has placed 10 teams in FPI's preseason top 20.

Let that sink in for a minute.

The SEC has three of the top five teams in the country, five of the top 10 and half of the top 20!

The 10th-best SEC team (Missouri) is better than the second-best ACC team (Florida State) and the second-best Big 12 team (Texas).

The best division in football is the SEC West. The second-best division is the SEC East.

For the SEC -- or any conference -- this sort of depth is unprecedented. No conference in the past 15 years of FPI has had more than eight teams in the top 20 of the preseason rankings.

How can this happen? And can it be possibly true?

To the latter, sure.

One problem the polls -- and humans in general -- have is that they fail to divorce themselves from win-loss records. That's a problem when judging conferences, since the majority of every team's games are against other teams in its conference. That leads to guaranteed losses and the appearance that conferences are more similar than they actually are. Because FPI is judging teams' performances with their opponents' strength in mind, it has no problem believing that the SEC is that much better than everyone else.

And if we look at perhaps the most surprising inclusion -- Tennessee -- it's easy to see why the Volunteers have flown up our board. Tennessee is one of just three FBS schools to return 10 starters on offense (and it brings back 17 overall), including quarterback Jarrett Guarantano, who posted a solid QBR of 67.4 last season. Even though Tennessee struggled on offense overall last season, teams that bring back that much talent tend to undergo significant improvement from one year to the next. The Vols also rank highly in recruiting over the past four years.

While the overall strength of the SEC is outrageous, we'd be negligent to ignore the fact that in addition to Alabama and Georgia ranking No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, LSU has climbed to No. 4. That might not seem like a particularly far climb from the No. 6 spot where the Tigers finished in the AP poll, but FPI was relatively unimpressed with LSU last season and had the school all the way down at No. 17.

Still, coach Ed Orgeron has work to do if he wants to compete for an SEC title: FPI predicts the Tigers are about 6 points per game worse than the Crimson Tide. That's within striking distance for sure, but LSU isn't in that elite tier just yet.

Preseason FPI 1.0 Rankings, Top 25
RANK TEAM FPI OFFENSE RANK DEFENSE RANK SPECIAL TEAMS RANK
1 Clemson 29.0 1 2 21
2 Alabama 27.6 2 1 7
3 Georgia 22.0 4 7 24
4 LSU 21.5 8 5 20
5 Michigan 21.0 6 9 1
6 Oklahoma 19.3 3 29 30
7 Notre Dame 18.0 9 11 9
8 Florida 17.4 25 4 12
9 Auburn 16.6 28 6 6
10 Oregon 16.4 5 22 36
11 Texas A&M 15.9 7 31 3
12 Penn State 15.4 22 8 4
13 Ohio State 13.8 27 12 16
14 Michigan State 13.8 55 3 19
15 Tennessee 13.7 18 19 10
16 Mississippi State 13.5 23 14 35
17 Washington 13.3 17 21 14
18 Utah 12.4 38 13 13
19 South Carolina 12.1 15 32 26
20 Missouri 11.9 16 26 57
21 UCLA 11.7 14 28 68
22 Florida State 11.3 48 10 40
23 Wisconsin 10.9 19 35 39
24 Stanford 10.3 43 18 2
25 Iowa 10.3 39 20 11
Texas is not back

One of the teams expected to generate plenty of preseason buzz is Texas. But not from FPI.

The hype that the Longhorns have finally produced is, in our model's estimation, overstated. Tom Herman's team checks in at No. 26 in our rankings, just missing the cut for our accompanying table (you can find them in the full rankings at the end of this post).

Though Texas took strides last season, it had the benefit of starting 13 seniors and graduate students. Even with a cumulative top-five recruiting rank over the past four seasons, the fact that Texas is returning just eight starters is very likely to be a problem.

As a result, FPI believes Texas is not one of the top 25 teams in college football and will more closely resemble Iowa State or Baylor than Oklahoma in 2019.

Oregon among major risers

The Pac-12 is absent from the very top of FPI's rankings -- hardly a surprise to college football fans over the past couple of years -- but the conference's best chance might be a team that didn't even play in its championship game last season: Oregon. Thanks in part to Justin Herbert throwing a stiff-arm at the NFL draft, the Ducks flew up the FPI ranks from No. 31 at the end of 2018 to No. 10 now.

The aforementioned Volunteers had the biggest rank jump (plus-50) of any top-25 team, but close in pursuit were UCLA (plus-47) and Florida State (plus45).

The Bruins, in particular, appear primed for a major improvement in Chip Kelly's second season. Last season's 3-9 record comes with important context -- no FBS team had a more difficult strength of schedule than UCLA. When FPI judged the Bruins' performance in 2018, it kept the tough schedule in mind. Throw in 19 returning starters and it believes Kelly & Co. could shock the college football universe with a big jump this season.

Quarterback carousel

play
0:47
Cain: Fields' eligibility will turn waiver system 'into a joke'Will Cain says the NCAA must be consistent with exceptions after Justin Fields received a waiver making him eligible to play for Ohio State in 2019.
FPI places a special emphasis on the most important position in football, though it doesn't always understand the nuances of a team's situation or the latest on the NCAA's transfer situation (who does?).

The most notable example of this is Ohio State's Justin Fields. While Fields is a major acquisition who has been approved to play in 2019, FPI does not award the Buckeyes extra credit for securing the transfer QB because he didn't earn significant playing time at Georgia. Instead, the Buckeyes are treated as if they will have to play a completely green QB this season, which, technically, is true -- he's just a high-profile one. Austin Kendall (West Virginia) and Tate Martell (Miami, if declared eligible) are handled similarly by FPI.

This is in contrast to situations like Kelly Bryant at Missouri, for example. The Tigers receive some credit in FPI for bringing in a transfer QB with significant starting experience. Jalen Hurts at Oklahoma, Brandon Wimbush at UCF and Jacob Eason at Washington are all treated this way.

As for Florida State -- though Willie Taggart booted Deondre Francois off the team -- FPI counts James Blackman as a returning starting quarterback because he previously started for the Seminoles.

FPI refresher

FPI is our predictive rating and ranking system for college football. It's set to the scale of points per game above average, and it fuels all of our predictions and projections (out later this offseason) before and during the season.

You can read a full explanation of FPI's inner workings here or watch the accompanying video. But the quick version is that in the preseason, FPI ratings are determined through four factors:

Team performance over the past four seasons (most emphasis on last season)

Returning starters at quarterback, on offense overall and on defense

Whether a team has a returning head coach

Recruiting rankings over the past four seasons

play
5:02
Breaking down the Football Power IndexCollege football analyst Brad Edwards shows how ESPN uses four seasons of data to rank college football's best teams.
Preseason FPI 1.0 Rankings, FBS Teams
RANK TEAM FPI OFFENSE RANK DEFENSE RANK SPECIAL TEAMS RANK
26 Texas 9.8 24 36 22
27 USC 9.8 35 27 5
28 Minnesota 9.7 33 30 8
29 Iowa State 9.5 37 23 34
30 Kentucky 8.4 34 34 27
31 Baylor 8.3 11 62 47
32 Miami (FL) 8.2 61 15 48
33 Washington State 8.1 12 58 56
34 Arizona State 8.1 21 45 42
35 Nebraska 8.0 20 52 23
36 Virginia Tech 7.9 32 40 29
37 UCF 7.4 10 73 58
38 TCU 7.3 70 16 17
39 Oklahoma State 6.9 13 69 45
40 Cincinnati 6.2 51 33 69
41 Ole Miss 5.8 47 37 75
42 Boise State 5.6 41 41 65
43 Virginia 5.5 66 24 43
44 Brigham Young 5.2 50 43 32
45 North Carolina 5.2 30 65 18
46 Texas Tech 4.9 31 57 51
47 North Carolina State 4.5 52 44 50
48 Indiana 4.4 40 51 55
49 Pittsburgh 3.8 54 46 33
50 Syracuse 3.6 75 38 15
51 Vanderbilt 3.6 26 76 66
52 Arizona 3.5 29 68 79
53 Northwestern 2.9 89 25 25
54 Memphis 2.9 36 77 46
55 California 2.8 97 17 38
56 Duke 0.9 91 39 44
57 Kansas State 0.9 73 50 31
58 Arkansas 0.2 77 49 52
59 Western Michigan 0.2 46 78 104
60 Purdue 0.2 79 48 53
61 Maryland 0.0 68 70 28
62 Colorado 0.0 69 55 76
63 Appalachian State -0.4 62 59 115
64 West Virginia -0.5 82 47 73
65 Boston College -0.6 78 53 61
66 Wake Forest -0.8 56 79 62
67 Louisville -1.2 71 67 70
68 Army -1.4 42 92 91
69 Air Force -1.8 49 90 97
70 Marshall -1.9 90 56 41
71 Fresno State -2.4 108 42 63
72 Florida International -2.6 45 101 77
73 South Florida -2.7 59 89 71
74 San Diego State -3.0 94 61 49
75 Southern Miss -3.3 87 66 99
76 Georgia Southern -3.3 72 86 60
77 Temple -3.4 93 64 67
78 Illinois -4.1 81 82 59
79 Houston -4.2 44 111 87
80 Georgia Tech -4.9 76 91 64
81 Toledo -4.9 63 103 54
82 Utah State -4.9 105 54 96
83 Oregon State -4.9 58 104 74
84 North Texas -5.0 65 100 80
85 Troy -5.0 104 63 78
86 Florida Atlantic -5.2 67 97 95
87 Rutgers -5.3 95 80 37
88 Tulane -5.6 109 60 72
89 Hawaii -5.9 53 109 122
90 Arkansas State -6.1 101 75 89
91 Louisiana Tech -6.1 74 96 98
92 Ohio -6.1 60 108 84
93 Southern Methodist -6.2 102 71 106
94 Western Kentucky -6.2 86 88 114
95 Wyoming -7.6 116 72 85
96 Tulsa -8.0 106 81 103
97 Middle Tennessee -8.0 107 83 93
98 Northern Illinois -8.2 119 74 86
99 UAB -8.3 96 93 113
100 Louisiana-Lafayette -8.8 57 121 121
101 Nevada -9.0 113 84 81
102 Colorado State -9.3 80 113 109
103 Louisiana-Monroe -9.5 85 110 119
104 UNLV -9.5 64 120 126
105 Miami (OH) -10.6 112 94 90
106 Ball State -10.9 98 107 108
107 East Carolina -10.9 111 95 118
108 Buffalo -11.0 84 117 112
109 Kansas -11.2 121 87 94
110 Texas State -11.7 120 85 130
111 Navy -11.7 92 116 88
112 Eastern Michigan -11.7 118 99 82
113 Coastal Carolina -12.0 88 118 116
114 Georgia State -12.3 83 122 128
115 San Jose State -12.6 114 105 101
116 Kent State -13.2 110 112 120
117 Liberty -13.3 103 115 123
118 New Mexico -13.7 100 119 105
119 Central Michigan -13.9 124 98 107
120 Bowling Green -14.4 99 124 100
121 Charlotte -15.3 128 102 110
122 UTSA -15.5 127 106 92
123 Akron -16.7 126 114 102
124 New Mexico State -17.3 117 123 129
125 Massachusetts -18.6 122 125 124
126 South Alabama -19.5 123 127 117
127 Connecticut -20.0 115 130 127
128 Old Dominion -21.1 125 129 111
129 Rice -22.2 130 126 83
130 UTEP -22.2 129 128 125
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[Terrance Sullivan]

Canes win Opening Night 19-3 Daddy Wooooooo.

[86Cane]

NEW BLOG IS UP!