After a key, extra innings midweek win over FIU, Miami took a step back in the series against Notre Dame. Cane alum Javi Salas, who threw the 23rd perfect game in D1 baseball history, joined the CanesInSight Podcast to recap the week and look ahead to this week’s games. Below is a summary of our conversation with Javi:
On his biggest takeaways from the weekend: Going into the series, Notre Dame was 0-6 in conference. From the outside looking in, it looked like a series that the Canes could handle. Weather definitely played a factor. You never want to lose a series, especially in conference to a team that was 0-6. But it’s the ACC, man. It’s a loaded conference. You look up and down the conference and there’s a lot of parity, especially on the Coastal side.
Miami's right in the mix. We saw a bunch of sweeps this weekend. The big one headlined by Clemson sweeping Florida State. We're going to have that Clemson ball club here in Coral Gables this weekend.
That Sunday game was huge. One of those things that you don't want to understate in ACC- you never want to get swept. The team showed a lot of gall yesterday coming back from that 7-1 deficit and winning in extras. Not the weekend you wanted, but definitely a nice way to end it on Sunday with a come-from-behind win.
On the lineup: It’s what DMoney and I have been talking about: this team lives and dies with the long ball. On Friday and Saturday, those opportunities didn't materialize. The wind and the weather played a factor. We're talking about 30-degree weather. Notre Dame did a really nice job of controlling Blake Cyr, Daniel Cuvet and Jason Torres on Friday and Saturday. On Sunday, we saw Daniel Cuvet with three RBIs. Jason Torres had two RBIs.
Teams are going to focus on Blake Cyr. They're not going to let him get his free swings. Daniel Cuvet is the focus of every scouting report. He’s an all-world talent. Jason Torres is another one that's circled on scouting reports and teams are just really honing in on those three guys.
Right now, this Miami ball club lives and dies with the long ball and this weekend, no long balls. It was tough for them to manufacture some runs, especially on Friday and Saturday.
On Gage Ziehl settling in: I was really encouraged by what I saw from Gage last week against North Carolina. He threw a complete game (7-inning game) and he rolls that into this week. What you need on Friday night is a guy who can go deep into the ballgame. A guy who can give you a chance. Gage certainly did do that. Scoring just two runs, you're not going to win a whole lot of ballgames in any conference.
The roles have sort of reversed, especially this weekend. We're used to seeing this offense put up a ton of runs. We didn't do that Friday and Saturday, but the pitching held up. This is to be expected with a young ball club. There's going to be weekends where stuff doesn't click at the right time. We've seen games like the Sunday game where we put up 10 runs and lose. On the flip side, we give up five and six on Friday and Saturday, and we just couldn't scratch across any runs.
On the importance of Sunday’s win: I mentioned on our opening show how important it is to not get swept in conference. When you look at your tournament resume, .500 probably gets you into the tournament pretty comfortably in the ACC. That’s how strong the conference is. We’ve seen two series wins.
You go into that Sunday game, you’ve lost a series, and in that fifth inning you're looking at a 7-1 deficit. I'm thinking to myself, “It's going to be a tough plane ride back.” But time and time again, this team proves that there is just a lot more than what shows on the surface.
If you're Coach Arteaga, Coach Fenster, Coach Gutierrez, you gotta be really pleased with the effort and the character of this ball club. Look, 7-1 sucks. You're getting beat down. It’s cold. You're on the road. You’ve got a long plane ride back home after the game. There’s a whole lot of thoughts going through that dugout.
The fact that they rally and come back from that [is encouraging]. And it wasn't just a comeback. It's come back, take the lead, give the lead away again in the bottom of the eighth inning and come back and win in extra innings.
So winning on Sunday, build a little bit of momentum and start, looking forward to that Tuesday [against FIU].
On playing on the road: You really want to know what you have in this ball club and being on the road certainly will test some of that. It’s the first time they've gone on a true road trip this year. The weather didn't really help, but it’s the nature of the beast. You're going to have some of these series. We play Boston College in the snow. Maryland in the snow. No excuses.
On the importance of this weekend: We keep on searching for this team to find its identity. We know they can play from behind. We know that they're tough. I really want to see them grab the bull by the horns and chart the course for the season. It's a young ball club. But we're over 20 games into the season. I'd like for the next two weeks to see what this Hurricane team is all about. Development's not linear. These guys are young. There's a lot to be learned. But this weekend will set a good course for us.
This is a Clemson team that just swept Florida State. They’re ranked #4 going into the weekend. They're probably going to sneak into the top three. They’re number #1 in the RPI. They might come into Coral Gables as the #1 ranked team in the country. So it should be a really, really exciting weekend down at Coral Gables.
