Coral Gables Regional Preview
Baseball America will break down all 16 regionals, including Coral Gables, hosted by No. 3 national seed Miami. Teddy Cahill has the details.
| STAT PACK (National rank in parentheses) |
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| Avg. | Scoring (R/G) | HR | SB | ERA | K/9 | WHIP | Fielding %age | |
| 1. Miami | .300 (33) | 7 (31) | 41 (80) | 58 (122) | 3.54 (41) | 6.7 (192) | 1.35 (65) | .983 (3) |
| 2. Florida Atlantic | .292 (58) | 6.3 (70) | 31 (141) | 44 (190) | 3.17 (18) | 6.4 (228) | 1.22 (21) | .976 (27) |
| 3. Long Beach State | .269 (167) | 5.2 (174) | 26 (180) | 63 (96) | 3.18 (20) | 8.2 (36) | 1.21 (14) | .979 (10) |
| 4. Stetson | .262 (204) | 4.9 (198) | 26 (180) | 58 (122) | 3.87 (72) | 8.4 (30) | 1.46 (136) | .960 (246) |
1. Miami (43-11, 21-7 in ACC)
45th appearance (44th straight), at-large, first place in ACC Coastal
Top 300 Prospects C Zack Collins (16), RHP Bryan Garcia (191), OF Willie Abreu (200), OF Jacob Heyward (287)
Season In A Sentence: After returning to Omaha last year for the first time since 2008, Miami built on that momentum this season and rolled to an ACC championship and the No. 3 national seed.
Player To Watch: Brandon Lopez, ss: Collins is Miami’s best hitter, but it is up to Lopez to protect him in the lineup. The senior is Miami’s leading hitter (.388/.454/.489) and has deftly handled the role of hitting behind Collins since he was moved to cleanup. Lopez has also been a steady presence in the field, posting a .975 fielding percentage this season. He isn’t as toolsy as players such as Abreu, center fielder Carl Chester and Collins, but Miami will need Lopez at his best to reach their ceiling.
Best Weekend: vs. Louisville, March 18-20. Louisville and Miami came into the season as the ACC favorites and met at Mark Light Field on the second weekend of conference play. The Hurricanes claimed the series with victories in the first two games, setting themselves up to claim the conference championship. The series began with a dramatic, 8-4 walk-off victory, as Abreu hit a grand slam off flame-throwing closer Zach Burdi. Adding to the moment was that it was coach Jim Morris’ 1,500th career victory, making him the sixth Division I coach in history to reach that milestone.
Outlook: Miami has a second-straight trip to Omaha on its mind. This regional has its challenges—Florida Atlantic split a pair of midweek games with Miami this season and Long Beach State finished second in the Big West Conference—but the Hurricanes will be favored to advance to super regionals.
2. Florida Atlantic (38-17, 21-8 in CUSA)
12th appearance (second straight), at-large, first place in Conference USA
Top 300 Prospects SS C.J. Chatham (109)
Season In A Sentence: Florida Atlantic overcame significant adversity this season, as both coach John McCormack and catcher Kevin Abraham battled cancer, and the Owls have been remarkably consistent throughout the season from beating Mississippi State twice on opening weekend until they captured the CUSA title on the final weekend of the regular season.
Player To Watch: C.J. Chatham, ss: The player of the year in CUSA has been critical to the Owsls’ success this season. He is hitting .367/.435/.574 with eight home runs, leading FAU in nearly every offensive category and playing his way up draft boards all spring. As Chatham goes, so too will the Owls.
Best Weekend: vs. Southern Mississippi, April 29-May 1. Southern Mississippi came to Boca Raton having just won a series against perennial powerhouse Rice to take over first place in CUSA. FAU, meanwhile, had lost three of its last four games and was coming off a series loss to Florida International. But the Owls got back on track with victories in the first two games against the Golden Eagles to claim a key series win. FAU rode that momentum throughout May, as they went undefeated in their final four series to finish in first place.
Outlook: FAU has proven it can beat elite teams on the road and it has already won once at Mark Light Field this season. The Owls haven’t won a regional since 2002 and they don’t have an easy path this season, but they’re a battle-tested team that can make things difficult for the Hurricanes.
3. Long Beach State (36-20, 15-9 in Big West)
21st appearance (last in 2014), at-large, second place in Big West Conference
Top 300 Prospects SS Garrett Hampson (185)
Season In A Sentence: Long Beach started the season with six straight series victories, playing its way into the Top 25 for the first time since 2008, and it pushed archrival Cal State Fullerton to the end in the Big West before losing a de facto championship game on the final day of the regular season.
Player To Watch: Darren McCaughan, rhp: Chris Mathewson is the Dirtbags’ Friday night starter, but McCaughan was named Big West pitcher of the year after going 10-1, 1.98. His win against Fullerton last week made him Long Beach’s first 10-game winner since Cesar Ramos reached the milestone in 2005 and set up the final day drama. The Dirtbags will need another him to deliver another big start this week.
Best Weekend: at Cal State Fullerton, March 24-26. It didn’t count toward the conference standings, but Long Beach won two of three games at Fullerton at the end of March to claim its first series win at Goodwin Field since 2007. All three games were close (the combined score of the three games was 12-12), but the Dirtbags found a way to come away with two victories.
Outlook: Like many West Coast teams, Long Beach is built on pitching and defense and plays a lot of small ball. They will face a different style of baseball in Coral Gables, and the top two seeds both average more runs per game this season than any Big West team. If the Dirtbags can avoid any slugfests and stick to their fundamentals, they know how to grind out close games.
4. Stetson (29-29, 9-12 in Atlantic Sun)
18th appearance (last in 2011), automatic, sixth place in Atlantic Sun Conference, A-Sun Tournament champion
Top 300 Prospects None
Season In A Sentence: Stetson got the sixth and final spot in the A-Sun Tournament and went into the event on a five-game losing streak, but got hot in the conference tournament and swept through for its first championship in a decade.
Player To Watch: Mitchell Jordan, rhp: After setting the Cape Cod League’s modern-day ERA record last summer, expectations were high for Jordan this season. The junior hasn’t been able to replicate his Cape performance and went 6-5, 4.07 this season. He doesn’t have overpowering stuff and, as a result, has to be fine to succeed. But he has been better of late, and the Hatters have won five straight games Jordan has started. They’ll need another solid start from him this weekend.
Best Weekend: A-Sun Tournament, May 25-28: The Hatters started the tournament with a bang, upsetting top-seeded Kennesaw State. They followed that up by beating Jacksonville and ace Michael Baumann, the 2015 conference pitcher of the year. A win against North Florida, the defending conference champion, sent Stetson to the finals, where it faced Florida Gulf Coast. There the Hatters fought off a late rally from the Eagles to capture their first conference championship since 2006.
Outlook: Stetson finished with a flurry, and will need its conference tournament magic to carry over to regionals. That will be a tough task, considering the Hatters’ 4-15 record this season against top-100 RPI teams.
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