Miami baseball awarded No. 6 national seed, regional opponents announced

After a 39-win season, the Miami Hurricanes were marked as the No. 6 seed shortly after noon on Monday from the NCAA Division I Baseball Committee.

As it earned a top-eight seeding, Miami (39-18) will be in position to host a super regional in the NCAA tournament should they advance from the regional round.

“We’ve played well over the season and had a very good record in the ACC,” Miami head coach Gino DiMare said.

In hosting the regional round, the Hurricanes will welcome three other teams to Coral Gables. Miami will kick off the action on Friday against Canisius (29-23), who is the fourth seed. The evening game on Friday will put the third-seeded Ole Miss Rebels (32-22) against the second-seeded Arizona Wildcats (37-23).

“It’s just a great thing we are playing here at home, we’ve played super well at home,” UM closer Andrew Walters said. “A lot of people are going to come down here, it’s going to be hot, but we are ready for it.”

The teams will play in a double-elimination format, and the winner of the round will move on to super regional play.

Miami stumbled down the stretch, losing both games it played in the ACC tournament, including a 16-3 loss to Wake Forest, a game that was ended due to a mercy rule. The Hurricanes did win their final conference series against Notre Dame but have still lost six of their last nine games.

“Everybody’s 0-0 now, everybody’s in the same place,” DiMare said. “They should be as excited as they can possibly be in a situation like this, playing in front of their family and friends, fans, great opportunity we got in front of us.”

The Hurricanes’ offense has also scored below their season average in eight straight games.

“We are just going to take these couple days before regionals to just see film [and] work on things that we know have been working in the past,” Miami third baseman Yohandy Morales said.

With their selection to the tournament, the Hurricanes will make their 48th postseason appearance, and their third in a row under DiMare’s leadership.

If Miami survives both the regional and super regional rounds, the team will move onto the College World Series in Omaha, Neb. for the first time since 2016. There, the team would be looking to capture its first national title since 2001.

“At the end of the day, super regional, that top eight doesn’t mean anything unless you take care of business,” said DiMare. “All that should matter is Friday’s game, and we are going to try to do as much as we can to prepare for that.”

First pitch on Friday against Canisius is scheduled for 12:00 p.m.