Colleges

'Canes happy to fool critics, polls

By TIMES WIRES
Published June 17, 2006

The initial assessment of Miami by national pollsters seemed correct.

The Hurricanes were insulted by being unranked much of the year, but their play rarely proved anybody wrong. They were swept by Florida, lost 10 of 15 in one stretch and lost five of seven heading into the NCAA Tournament.

"We had a lot of incentive. We want to uphold the tradition we have here, so we just played with a chip on our shoulder," said centerfielder Jon Jay, the team's leading hitter at .369. "We wanted to prove that we can play with anyone."

And now Miami is among the elite.

The Hurricanes (41-22) are in the College World Series for the 22nd time, 10th in 13 seasons under coach Jim Morris. Miami meets Oregon State (44-14) today in the first round of the double-elimination, eight-team tournament at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Neb.

The Hurricanes are 5-1 in NCAA play this season.

"We weren't even ranked two weeks ago in Baseball America. And now we're in the final eight?" asked closer Chris Perez, who was taken 42nd overall by the St. Louis Cardinals earlier this month in the major league baseball draft. "It's good to quiet your critics."

Andy D'Alessio hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning to highlight the biggest late-game CWS comeback in 20 years.

The Tigers capitalized on Georgia Tech's bullpen meltdown to score all their runs in the eighth. D'Alessio's homer off Ryan Turner allowed the Tigers (53-14) to rally from a 4-0 deficit after Lee Hyde had held them to two hits over seven innings. No team had come back from four or more down in the eighth to win in the CWS since Arizona come back to top Maine 8-7 in 1986.

[Last modified June 21, 2006, 09:33:44]