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On Monday, the NCAA announced the 64 collegiate baseball teams to earn the honor to be a part of the Division I national tournament, which will begin Friday at noon when the Missouri Tigers take on the Ole Miss Rebels. In preview of the regional tournaments that will be held this weekend, throughout the week our resident college baseball fanatic Rosenblogger will examine each individual regional beginning with the Coral Gables Regional hosted by the national #1 seed Miami Hurricanes:

Coral Gables Regional

1. Miami Hurricanes (47-8) vs 4. Bethune-Cookman Wildcats (36-20)
2. Missouri Tigers (38-19) vs 3. Ole Miss Rebels (37-24)

Winner to take on champion of Ann Arbor Regional.

The selection committee did not do number one national seed Miami any favors when selecting the participants for this regional. MEAC champion Bethune-Cookman is a dangerous number four seed.

The Hurricanes will face Bethune-Cookman ace Hiram Burgos in the opener, who sports a 9-1 record with a miniscule 1.20 ERA. The Wildcats traveled to Coral Gables for two midweek games during the season, and were competitive in both contests losing 10-5 & 7-6. While I expect another competitive performance from Bethune-Cookman, the talent and experience from Miami and the arm of freshman ace Chris Hernandez (11-0, 2.44 ERA, 97 K) will prove too much for the Tigers.

The 2 vs 3 matchup might feature the best starting pitching duel of any in the first round. Undefeated Aaron Crow (12-0, 2.56 ERA, 117 K) from Missouri will take on Lance Lynn (7-3, 4.21 ERA, 103 K) from Ole Miss. Both pitchers possess dominant, strikeout stuff, and I would expect this game to be close and low scoring throughout.

If the game is close late, give the advantage to Ole Miss who will be able to give the ball to Scott Bittle (6-1, 8 SV, 1.63 ERA, 118 K in 26 relief apperances), who is one of the nations top closers. These are two very similar teams, but I like Ole Miss to win the opener in what should be a very exciting ball game.

While the road may be tough, Miami is the top national seed for a reason. While I think this will be a very competitive regional, the experience and depth of the Hurricanes will help them advance to the super regional. With guys like Yonder Alonso (.380/21 HR/66 RBI) and Jemile Weeks (.374/11 HR/55 RBI/19 SB), Miami has too much talent, and they are clearly the class of this regional.

It will be very important for the Hurricanes to avoid falling into the loser’s bracket and having to play extra games to advance. Ole Miss and Missouri both feature deep, talented pitching staffs, and Miami’s pitching depth may be their one potential weakness.

Rosenblogger

Also, check out our other regional previews: Ann Arbor, Athens, Baton Rouge, Cary, College Station, Conway, Fullerton, Houston, Lincoln, Long Beach, Palo Alto, Raleigh, Stillwater, Tallahassee, Tempe

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