BASEBALL: Miami Postcard

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Here’s picture for the postcard this morning. What’s a postcard without a picture, anyway? A blog post I guess.

We made it down to South Beach yesterday in the late evening as the sun was dropping, and night was on the way.

This visit was a contradiction of wills. South Beach is known for its wall-to-wall nightclubs, and I’m known for an early bedtime.

Anyway, it’s a very picturesque scene where large, old hotels front the beach. It’s got a French Quarter feel to it.

We dined on over-priced food that was OK, but it’s a neat place to visit. Gregg Ellis always disses me, because my dining tastes aren’t as ethnic as his, so in honor of Gregg I went ethnic and had Chicken Parmigiano. Saw several cigar stores and a place called the Havana Shirt Store. Not sure if there were authentic Cuban shirts in there, or if they were just trying to trick people like me. I was wearing my shirt that says “tourist from Mississippi.” Not really.

South Beach is an interesting place for people watching. I kept looking for Crockett and Tubbs but never saw them.

I couldn’t shake the image of Ed Orgeron frequenting South Beach as a young assistant football coach with Miami. Wow. Maybe he won a karaoke contest while he was down here.

Well, I got back in time to do some reading and keep my bedtime, and this morning I got up and did my walking, about five miles. I usually go about three miles, but that’s when I don’t get lost.

First pitch for Ole Miss and Missouri is 11 central, weather permitting. It’s threatening rain outside right now.

– PA

BASEBALL: Regional tid-bits and observations

Respect for Bethune: There’s a healthy dose of respect for Bethune-Cookman from the Miami camp. Bethune, from Dayton Beach, came down here for a couple of mid-week games and was quite competitive in its two losses.

It’s almost unimaginable that a pitching staff’s top four arms would all have ERAs under 3, but that’s the case for Bethune, which has the nation’s ERA leader in Hiram Burgos at 1.20.

The immediate red flag is that those numbers were composed largely in 18 conference games in the MEAC where the Wildcats were 17-1. Certainly that is to be considered, but the Wildcats were also 19-19 in non-conference games. They have non-conference wins against Temple, Illinois State, South Florida and Penn State. Those aren’t baseball powers, but Bethune also lost 2-0 at Southern Cal and 2-0 at UCLA in a late February road trip.

In addition to the Miami losses, Bethune lost 11-10 at Florida earlier this month.

It is my humble opinion that Bethune was the best 4 seed in Oxford over the past four regionals. They play in a historically black conference, but it’s not a majority African-American roster.

It would not be stunning for this team to upset Miami on Friday or whoever it plays on Saturday.

Average facility: Draws was correct in his assessment of Miami’s Mark Light Field. There is some construction going on, but it’s nowhere near complete.

The grandstand is OK. There is some low-level chairback seating around home plate, but none of the seats are covered.

There is some sort of press area in what appears to be a temporary buidling along third base. It’s not large enough to host an event where anyone comes to cover, then throw TV into the mix as with the NCAA tournament, and there are real space issues.

TV, by the way, is ESPNU, so the Rebels, in the bracket with the No. 1 seed, will be seen by literally hundreds across the country.

Brian Jordan, the former outfielder with the Braves and Cardinals who also played football with the Falcons, will provide color commentary.

He was pretty cool to visit with and ranks St. Louis as a superior baseball experience for those who reach the Bigs. Shocking, I know. Jordan does some TV work with the Braves and Fox Sports and makes his home in the Atlanta area.

Regional regulars: This is the 36th consecutive regional appearance for Miami, which won four national championships, including the 1999 and 2001 titles under current coach Jim Morris. Morris is 78-30 in postseason play at Miami.

Some of the beat guys could play a little:  Missouri scored 31 runs in a 31-12 win against Texas on April 11. It was not the first time Mizzou has scored at least 30 runs in a game.

The Tigers defeated Division II Truman State 30-0 in 2003. Clarion-Ledger Ole Miss beat writer David Brandt, who is part of our traveling party, was a pitcher of record for Truman and earned two outs in what turned out to be a scoreless ninth inning in that game.

David said it was so cold that day that he thought Missouri batters were trying to pop-up intentionally in the ninth so everyone could go home.

In the Texas game every Missouri starter had at least one hit and five had at least three, including senior Jacob Priday, who set a Big 12 record with four home runs.

Missouri also had a 22-run game this season and is averaging 7.3 runs per game.

Priday leads the team with 16 home runs and 133 total pases. He second in RBI with 62.

– PA

BASEBALL: Practice day at the regional

Here are some quick notes from today’s practices. The Rebels are on the field now, and Bethune-Cookman will follow.

Look for an expanded notebook in tomorrow’s print edition.

– Missouri ace Aaron Crow (12-0, 2.56), the junior right-hander who will throw against Ole Miss tomorrow, had a streak of 43 consecutive scoreless innings earlier this season.

– Miami coach Jim Morris will save his ace, freshman left-hander Chris Hernandez (11-0, 2.44 ERA) for the second game against either Ole Miss or Missouri. Hernandez is the ACC freshman of the year.

– Morris called the Coral Gables Regional “one of the toughest” in the field of 64, but not so tough that he had to burn Hernandez in Game 1 against Bethune-Cookman. The Wildcats, of Daytona Beach, were the 4 seed in the Oxford Regional in 2006, probably the best 4 seed that’s been sent to Oxford.

Bethune has four pitchers with sub-3 ERAs including national ERA leader Hiram Burgos (9-1), the Game 1 starter, at 1.20.

Morris said he hasn’t looked at Ole Miss or Missouri much yet, focusing instead on Bethune, which lost here 10-5 and 7-6 March 25 and 26.

“We’ll be here at 12 tomorrow and will watch the first game, and then we’ll make some calls and get some tape,” Morris said.

– Missouri infielder Steve Gray expects to see very good pitching from Ole Miss starter Lance Lynn, but he’s not too worried about it.

“He’s one of the better pitchers in the SEC. We know we’ll face tough pitching, but we’ve faced tough pitching all year. We’ll be all right. We know we’re facing a good team, but we’re confident we’ll come out on top,” he said.

Gray batted .400 in the Big 12 tournament.

– PA

BASEBALL: Miami postcard

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — They say Mississippi is the Deep South, but can you get more southern in the United States than Miami? I’ll see if I can come up with that answer.

Last night, we were unable to find the Argentinian steakhouse, that Gregg Ellis raved about when he was here with State a couple of years ago, until we’d already eaten in a shopping/dining development in Coco Grove just down the road from here.

We walked the shops a little bit, and then everyone was ready to just go and crash at the conclusion of Travel Day.

Press conferences and practices start in about an hour, and I’ll post some notes later on.

At some point I’d like to see the beach.

– PA

BASEBALL: Today’s column

Here’s the column I had in today’s print edition. The offense showed some fight in Hoover, but it will need that effort and more if the Rebels are to succeed at Miami.

– PA

BASEBALL: Made it through security …

… at the Birmingham Airport. Our flight leaves at 10:20, but I like getting here earlly. I can go through security without a crowd, and I’ve got work to do as well. The airport here has nice work stations and free wireless.

In the post below Draws says Miami’s stadium is a dump, and from what I understand, those may be words of kindness on his part.

I set the bar for expectations low when I leave the Southeast. Some places are better than others, and I think they have some nice facilities in the Big 12, but some very traditional programs that I have seen (or will see shortlly) — Fullerton State, Arizona State, Miami — are less than you’d think in terms of where they play.

– PA

BASEBALL: Twas the night before Travel Day

Leaving for Miami tomorrow morning. 5:15 for Birmingham then a layover in Orlando and on to Fort Lauderdale. I look for some sort of news to break since I’m traveling. I’ll post some notes at some point tomorrow. Press conferences and practices are Thursday morning and afternoon. I talked to Missouri coach Tim Jamieson this afternoon for an opponent story I’ll have in Thursday’s print edition. There are a lot of similarities between these teams. Both pitch it pretty good, hit it occasionally, and both are suspect defensively.

– PA

BASEBALL: Defense is what it is

The Rebels field .966 as a unit. Only three SEC teams committed more errors this season.

When Mike Bianco fielded questions about his team’s defense following its 8-2 loss to LSU in the title game, he said, “It is what it is.”

The translation is he’s pushed all the buttons. There no remaining options as Ole Miss prepares for Friday’s game against Missouri in the Coral Gables Regional.

The area of concern is the infield’s left side, Cody Overbeck and third base and Tim Ferguson at short. Both made nice plays in Hoover, and both had errors as well. Both also offer something very important that allows them to keep their jobs … offense.

Overbeck, the team leader in average (.350), home runs (15) and RBIs (53) has been solid at the plate all year.

Ferguson, a freshman, has come on with the bat, and that’s what’s enabled him to beat out junior college transfer Sean Stuyverson for the everyday job.

The two newcomers waged a near season-long battle at short after Evan Button went down with a back injury earlier in the year.

Sometimes it looks like a throwing error will come from Ferguson if he has too much time to think. He was pretty solid with the glove in Hoover, though his error on a ground ball leading off the eighth led to a run for Kentucky in game two. Overbeck had just made a throwing error the previous inning which led to another run.

Ferguson had an error in the first against LSU, again leading to a run, but bounced back with a decent game.

“He made the error in the first but then made the next two or three plays, which a lot of kids wouldn’t have been able to do,” Bianco said.

Ferguson also had two triples in the tournament, and his steal of third base in the ninth inning against Georgia allowed the Rebels to score a big run late in the 4-1 win.

He gives Ole Miss a chance to do some things in the eighth spot in the batting order.

Missouri is fielding at an identical .966 clip, and it looks like the Tigers’ left side is struggling too. Friday’s game may be about who makes the fewest mistakes.

– PA

FYI: Today’s agenda

Yesterday was all about travel plans after I finished writing from the 11:30 selection show. Today I hope to run down Missouri coach Tim Jamieson to hear what he has to say about the Rebels and about his own team, specifically Aaron Crow, the Big 12 pitcher of the year. Missouri finished fourth in the Big 12.

I’ve got a column in the works too, a look at Ole Miss’ offense that was better, at times, in the SEC tournament.

Neal McCready of the Ole Miss rivals site is coming over here early tomorrow morning, and we’ll head out to Miami together as the Rebels go on the road for a regional for the first time since 2003.

– PA

BASEBALL: On to Miami

Wow. I expected a 2 or 3 seed, but I thought the SEC tourney run might have gotten the Rebels somewhere other than the regional with the No. 1 national seed.

You can look at this as Ole Miss getting a raw deal, and I’ve seen better, but my first thought was that the NCAA sent a pretty strong field to its No. 1 seed.

Missouri’s ace is Aaron Crow, a right-hander who is 12-0 with a 2.56 ERA. He’s their guy. It will be interesting to see if Crow pitches the first game against Ole Miss or if Mizzou coach Tim Jamieson throws Crow, the Big 12 pitcher of the year, against Ole Miss or tries to skate by into the probably meeting with Miami on the second day.

Mizzou’s No. 2 guy looks pretty good by the numbers. Kyle Gibson is 9-2 with a 3.40 ERA.

I don’t know what Bethune-Cookman has this year, haven’t studied them yet, but I do believe Bethune was the best 4 seed to play in one of the Oxford Regionals. I expect them to be pretty competitive.

Ole Miss players and coaches downplayed the fact that they’re going on the road to face the top seed. The comments were along the lines of “You have to play them some time.”

Mike Bianco says he will look at matchups before deciding on a pitching plan.

Check out this website for a wealth of NCAA tournament information.

I was hoping Ole Miss would be sent to a place that would be easily accessible by rental car. Oh well. At least it’s Miami, and there’s a local angle … they can bring in Ed Orgeron to throw out the first pitch.

– PA