For the 13th time in program history and the first since 2016, the Miami Hurricanes are returning to the NCAA Super Regionals. They secured their spot by narrowly defeating top-seeded Southern Miss, 5-4, in a thrilling winner-take-all match on Monday night at Pete Taylor Park.
Miami head coach JD Arteaga spoke with his players after the significant victory over Southern Miss. Here is everything the coach said following the game:
Opening comments:
"I told the team that this game rewards teams that do things the right way, play hard with confidence and encouragement, and that's this team to the core. You can’t help but think there was some almost divine intervention today, some of the plays. You know, a ground ball through Renzo’s glove that got to Dorian, and Will is at first base covering the bag. Plays that aren’t normal, you know, the way you draw them up in baseball. It seemed like everything went our way. That play that Ogden made, you know, was not a big deal until the next guy hit a two-run homer, and that would have tied the game. Just the guys stepping up, Lumpkin, Will Smith, who hadn’t pitched in a while. I told him I was resting him for today, so I didn’t want to hear that he was tired. I told you guys that’s a big piece of our lineup, an important guy, not just offensively, but on the bases. I felt that he got us going with a solo home run early, man. "I love this team, and I’m so happy we get to play more baseball with these guys.”
On the Bullpen:
"Guys did their job. They've been up and down during the season at some point. When we went on that stretch, everybody was clicking on all cylinders, and today those guys came through. It started with Lumpkin, then Will, and Robert came in, those first two guys in the eighth inning. But we tried, we had four lefties coming up. We tried to squeeze it. A couple more outs out of him before we went to Walter. That's a huge six-out save for him."
JD talks about Rob Evans Trying To Steal an out
"He was trying to steal an out or two. You get one out, that's a big difference. Five outs and six outs, and made it as tough as possible. That's how we like it around here. Nothing easy. But you try to steal outs whenever, wherever you can. There were situations earlier in the game where we had guys ready and we were just trying to steal one more out, and again it worked out."
JD's thoughts on Southern Miss:
"Great ball club. I can't think of a team that's much better. They get along in a power conference. It is a really good team up and down offensively and defensively, pitching those guys can really, really pitch, and they did some damage at the bat too, but I was impressed by being a pitching guy. I was impressed with their command and the way they were located. We only got five hits today, so I guess night hits. They did a great job, they had a game plan because, the same way they pitched us last night, they pitched us today, especially our left-handers. But they were able to execute. They were just following us and fastballs and sliders in. And those are tough pitches to execute consistently. When they missed, you know, you hear the fans complaining because that's why their misses were that close.
Miami head coach JD Arteaga spoke with his players after the significant victory over Southern Miss. Here is everything the coach said following the game:
Opening comments:
"I told the team that this game rewards teams that do things the right way, play hard with confidence and encouragement, and that's this team to the core. You can’t help but think there was some almost divine intervention today, some of the plays. You know, a ground ball through Renzo’s glove that got to Dorian, and Will is at first base covering the bag. Plays that aren’t normal, you know, the way you draw them up in baseball. It seemed like everything went our way. That play that Ogden made, you know, was not a big deal until the next guy hit a two-run homer, and that would have tied the game. Just the guys stepping up, Lumpkin, Will Smith, who hadn’t pitched in a while. I told him I was resting him for today, so I didn’t want to hear that he was tired. I told you guys that’s a big piece of our lineup, an important guy, not just offensively, but on the bases. I felt that he got us going with a solo home run early, man. "I love this team, and I’m so happy we get to play more baseball with these guys.”
On the Bullpen:
"Guys did their job. They've been up and down during the season at some point. When we went on that stretch, everybody was clicking on all cylinders, and today those guys came through. It started with Lumpkin, then Will, and Robert came in, those first two guys in the eighth inning. But we tried, we had four lefties coming up. We tried to squeeze it. A couple more outs out of him before we went to Walter. That's a huge six-out save for him."
JD talks about Rob Evans Trying To Steal an out
"He was trying to steal an out or two. You get one out, that's a big difference. Five outs and six outs, and made it as tough as possible. That's how we like it around here. Nothing easy. But you try to steal outs whenever, wherever you can. There were situations earlier in the game where we had guys ready and we were just trying to steal one more out, and again it worked out."
JD's thoughts on Southern Miss:
"Great ball club. I can't think of a team that's much better. They get along in a power conference. It is a really good team up and down offensively and defensively, pitching those guys can really, really pitch, and they did some damage at the bat too, but I was impressed by being a pitching guy. I was impressed with their command and the way they were located. We only got five hits today, so I guess night hits. They did a great job, they had a game plan because, the same way they pitched us last night, they pitched us today, especially our left-handers. But they were able to execute. They were just following us and fastballs and sliders in. And those are tough pitches to execute consistently. When they missed, you know, you hear the fans complaining because that's why their misses were that close.
