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Now That is Fast!

The Miami women claimed the 4x100m relay title on the final day of the 2019 Florida Relays. 
 
A team combined of Carolyn Brown, Alfreda Steel, Symone Mason and Tiara McMinn registered the fastest-collegiate time on the Percy Beard track with a time of 43.56 seconds. Saturday's time cracked Miami's all-time list with the third-fastest  in program history. 
 

All four Canes have been a part of at least one previous top-five mark, as Brown led the fastest time with Shakima Wimbley, Aiyanna Stiverne and Kristina Knott in 2017 with a time of 43.36. 
 
McMinn and Steele returned to the track and combined to run a time of 1:33.34 with Amuru Patterson and Brittny Ellis in the Canes first 4x200m relay of the season. The Canes finished fifth overall and ran the third-fastest collegiate time in the event. 

Canes Crush Owls

A three-homer first inning sparked the University of Miami baseball team on Wednesday night and a five-run seventh secured a road win over FAU, 16-6.
 
Raymond Gil had a two-homer game and Anthony Vilar posted four hits as the Hurricanes (16-9, 3-6 ACC) secured a season series win over the Owls (16-9, 5-1 C-USA). Miami beat FAU, 11-4, in the first meeting between the two sides on Feb. 20. Wednesday's win also snapped a six-game losing streak for the Canes.
 
Jordan Lala put a charge into a 2-0 pitch from FAU starter Ryan Sandberg, belting his second career leadoff homer. The freshman, who hit his first career homer to open the Appalachian State game on March 6, got Miami's offense going from the start and his teammates followed his lead.
 

Gil crushed a one-out two-run homer to left that pushed home Vilar, while Alex Toral delivered the final blow to Sandberg's night, destroying the first pitch he saw from the sophomore and depositing into the trees beyond the batting cages past the right field fence.
 
Miami's three-homer first inning ended Sandberg's night after just six batters, allowing five runs over just one third of an inning before being replaced by left-hander Hunter Cooley.
 

The Canes added two runs in the top of the second, as Freddy Zamora pushed Lala home with a sacrifice fly and Gil drove in Vilar with an RBI base hit through the left side that made it 7-0.
 
After a rough start by Sandberg and some mixed results from Cooley, FAU's bullpen settled in. Cooley threw a scoreless third and Jon Jon Kostantis followed with three scoreless innings of relief. The Owls retired 10 straight Hurricanes from the end of the second through the fifth and that allowed FAU to chip away at the seven-run Miami lead.
 
FAU saw its first eight batters retired by Miami starter Slade Cecconi, but the Owls got on the scoreboard with two outs in the bottom of the third. Ninth hitter Jacob Josey doubled to left and scored on an RBI single to center by Eric Rivera that gave FAU some life after struggling early against the freshman right-hander.
 

The Owls got a rally going in the fifth, as Mitchell Hartigan's two-run homer and Gunnar Lambert's two-out solo shot cut Miami's lead to three, 7-4
 
An inning later FAU nearly cut the lead to one, as Pedro Pages' double to center landed just shy of the wall. Cecconi was lifted with two on and one out in the sixth in favor of JP Gates, who started as Miami's designated hitter, but earned his fourth win of the season. Joe Montes drove both runners home with a two-run single to center that brought the Owls within one, 7-6.
 
But the Hurricanes' offense charged back with a five-run seventh inning, sending all nine players to bat against a pair of FAU pitchers. 
 

Miami's rally began against right-hander Vince Colleti, as the right-hander walked Toral with the bases loaded to push home a run. But it was Gates' two-run double off the wall in left that broke the inning open and ended Colleti's night.
 
Gabe Rivera singled off right-hander Dylan Carter, driving home Toral and putting runners at the corners before stealing second and helping Gates score from third on a throwing error by the catcher, Pages, that gave Miami a 12-6 advantage. 
 
The Canes had a three-run rally in the eighth, capped by a two-run homer by Gil that gave the sophomore his second two-homer game of his career. Gil also hit a pair of home runs against UMBC on March 3.

The New Miami: Spring Tour

Join Head Football Coach Manny Diaz for the Orlando stop of The New Miami 2019 Hurricane Club Spring Tour! This event will take place before the Football spring scrimmage in Camping World Stadium.

Date: Saturday, April 20
Time: 9:30am-11:30am
Registration: $50 for Hurricane Club Members and $75 for non-members
Place: Inside Camping World Stadium at the premier CenterState Club

A brunch buffet will be served and a cash bar will be available.

The event will feature Coach Diaz, Director of Athletics Blake James, Sebastian and 'Canes Spirit Squads.

Spring Tour registration is first-come-first-serve. Buy tickets on line or call the Hurricane Club at 305-284-6699.

Start time for the scrimmage is 12:00pm.

Mueller Report: No Collusion, No Obstruction

So now all of you know it alls and wise guys can choke on it.

So many abused their blog priviledges to boast about how "Trump was a guilty and was going down". And oh, how wrong they were. Very wrong.

So many tried to implicate the President of the United States with no evidence because they hate the man. Now he is totally vindicated!

Your alleged "Hero of the day" Robert Mueller has found that there was NO COLLUSION OR OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE between our great President of the United States Donald Trump and Putin and the Russians and the DOJ.

Now you just watch at how quickly and swiftly the rebound effect comes in to play. All those comments and predictions just crashed and burned.

Stupid is as stupid does. And stupid will get you just as far as you deserve.

Payback is gonna be a bitch. The "Get Donald Trump" media collusion is going to crash and burn. Hillary Clinton, Rosenstein, Comey, McCabe, Lynch, Strzok, Page and the rest will be in jail soon. Sit back and enjoy the show.

This is going to grow in scope and size, and get much deeper than any Democrat wanted it to be. The consequences will be steep and severe and sudden.

Positive blog comments about Donald Trump will be welcomed. Negative ones will be seen as part of the collusion against the President.

Until then we will wait for the Democratic roaches scurry from the daylight into the darkness. Their time will come. And it will be soon.

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."