Hopes high ... and student section starting ... with baseball set to begin

It's baseball season.

Almost.

The Canes' first series is this weekend with Rutgers coming to town, and hopes are high in Coral Gables that the team can break out of its two-year rut that hasn't seen UM qualify for regionals. That, of course, came on the heels of reaching the postseason in 44 consecutive seasons.

New head coach Gino DiMare is charged with setting the course for a team that was ultra-young last season and remains young in 2019 with 24 freshmen or sophomores, eight juniors and no seniors.

"It’s getting close,” DiMare said Tuesday. “I know our players, our coaches are very excited to get this thing going. The guys have been working very hard, we all understand the importance of program here and we all want to win and get back to where we should be.

“This is a new team and I’m excited to see what they can do.”

Something new under DiMare?

There will be a student section in the upper right side of the bleachers (when facing the bleachers from the field).

“I don’t ever see students at our games (and I was told) `About 200 of them come to our games,’” DiMare said. “I said `You’ve got to be kidding me, where are they?’ `Well they’re scattered about.’ So I thought it would be good if we could get them in a place where there’s a student section just like football, basketball. … I’m excited because the ballpark is a fun place to be.

“Of course I’d like to put them right above the dugout, but I never realized that’s against the rules, you can’t have the student section above the opposing team’s dugout in the ACC, which is crazy - I could swear when we’re on the road it seems like they’re right above our dugout. But it’s part of the college experience.”

Top players that return:

* Sophomore SS Freddy Zamora, an ACC All-Freshman team selection in 2018 after he was second on UM with a .303 batting average along with 32 runs, 28 RBI and 20 stolen bases. All of those statistics ranked second-best on the team.

* Sophomore catcher Isaac Quinones was selected as a Freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball after a season in which he hit .291 with 20 runs and 24 RBI.

* Sophomore 2B Willy Escala returns after batting .280 with 25 runs scored and seven stolen bases.

* Sophomore LF Dylan Cloonan is back after batting .289 with nine doubles, 11 runs and 14 RBI while starting 24 games. He’s in the mix to start.

Other position players that started 24 or more games last year that return are sophomore 1B Raymond Gil (34 starts, .234 average, back healthy off injury in the fall), sophomore OF Tony Jenkins (25 starts, .218 average) and Alex Toral (28 starts, .161 batting average).

Of Toral, hitting coach Norberto Lopez said, “He’s changed a lot, really bettered himself as a hitter. We’re all looking for big things from him.”

The bottom line when it comes to hitting?

“We know we have to swing the bat better, score runs,” DiMare said. “At the end of the day our philosophy is one we trust and believe in - we started six or seven guys last year in our lineup, those guys are all back.

“You’re going to see guys like Freddy Zamora has gotten a lot more offensive, he’s stronger. Tony Jenkins has gotten a lot stronger. Alex Toral is starting to finally swing the bat the way we expected him to when we recruited him. And you have some young guys that are going to play right out of the gate I’m excited about. … These guys are very aware of the (hitting struggles) the last couple of years but I think everybody is looking forward to a new start.”

When it comes to pitching the team's relying heavily on junior Evan McKendry (3.52 ERA, 7-6 record, 14 starts, 87 IP, 33 BB, 114 K) and hard-throwing Chris McMahon (can throw in high 90s, had a 4.44 ERA with a 1-1 record in 4 starts last year; missed first month of season with meniscus surgery).

Those are your Friday and Saturday starters, in that order.

McKendry’s take?

“Being the Friday night starter is an honor, I’m very proud,” McKendry said, adding “Pitching will be a strength and our hitting will be a lot better.

“We know what we’re capable of, what we can do, what our team has the ability to do.”

McMahon said he’s looking forward to “just playing baseball again. I got a few spot starts last year - I’m extremely excited. … Being Saturday night starter is a big role.”

He added that “We’re going to prove a lot of people wrong this year.”

The Sunday starter?

Somewhat of a surprise: It’s redshirt junior transfer Brian Van Belle.

“He’s probably made the biggest jump of anybody,” DiMare said, adding the midweek starter isn’t set yet.

Of Van Belle, who had arm surgery and redshirted at Broward Community College before arriving at UM healthy, DiMare said, “He just got stronger and stronger, every time he pitched he seemed to pitch better and better. He’s outpitched other guys, that’s the bottom line.”

Starters in the midweek mix are junior P Greg Veliz (3.12 ERA, 4 starts, 5 games, season ended early due to injury) and RHP Slade Cecconi, who DiMare said “is a very highly touted freshman.”

DiMare added of Cecconi that “He’s the poster child for what a pitcher should look like. He’s 6-4, long, lanky, weighs 210, 215, pretty mechanics. He’s a mid-90s guy, needs to improve his off-speed stuff, throws it good in the bullpen but has to translate it to the field. … He has the best SAT I can remember coming in here, 1440 SAT, so half of his scholarship is academic.

“He’ll play an important role for us before this is all said and done.”

Overall?

“Our starting pitching is our strength, no doubt,” DiMare said. “If we can find a way to score our share of runs, which has been our (issue) the last few years, we’ll win our share of games.”

The closer?

That’s freshman JP Gates.

“You need a guy that’s tough, a bulldog, and he absolutely does that,” DiMare said. “He throws three pitches for strikes.”

As of now the setup man is sophomore P Daniel Federman (2.25 ERA, 2-4 record, 23 games, 4 starts, 60 IP, 22 BB, 54 K).

“Really either one in my mind can close for us, but right now this is the way we have it set up,” DiMare said.

Pitching coach J.D. Arteaga said Federman “would rather start if you ask him, and has the ability to start, but also has the ability to be our setup guy or closer. … In our mind we have two closers at the end of the game.”

The team’s key losses from last season:

* P Jeb Bargfeldt (3.38 ERA, 4-5 record, 15 starts, 101.1 IP, 30 BB, 76 K).

* P Andrew Cabezas (3.96 ERA, 6-4 record, 19 games, 10 starts, 2 saves, 75 IP, 43 BB, 79 K).

* RP Cooper Hammond (2.36 ERA, 2-2 record, 4 saves).

* RP Frankie Bartow (3.12 ERA, 5-0 record, 4 saves).

* OF/DH Danny Reyes led the team with a .321 batting average and five home runs.

* 3B Romy Gonzalez had 35 runs and 30 RBI along with a team high 22 stolen bases.

* CF Michael Burns hit .263 with 27 runs and 21 RBI.

Which freshmen could step up and help out right away?

Aside from the aforementioned Cecconi and Gates, C Adrian Del Castillo is coming off a back injury but should be fine for the opener. Del Castillo is expected to be one of the team’s leading hitters.

“He can really swing the bat, is a natural hitter, old school, doesn’t use batting gloves,” DiMare said. “He hits the ball hard all over the place. … I think he’ll be one of our better hitters. When he leaves Miami you’ll probably look at him as one of those guys going `That’s one of those special hitters Miami gets every so often.’ He can be one of those guys.”

More takes today:

* McKendry said he worked hard on “commanding my fastball” this offseason.

“I kept the same pitches but tried to make them better,” he said.

* Michael Amditis is back healthy at catcher and says “I feel confident heading into the season.”

Of the competition to get on the field at his position, Amditis said all he can do is work hard.

“You know you have to get after it,” he said. “Everyone has to do their best every day.”

His take on the pitching staff?

“Depth is huge, a lot of hard throwers, really attacking hitters,” he said. “We can go a long way with the staff we have now.”

- Amditis said he lost “about 15 pounds,” which has helped him defensively.

* Hitting coach/recruiting coordinator Norberto Lopez was asked how having a lot of freshmen returning helps.

“That’ll definitely help,” Lopez said. “Guys know what they’re going to go against in the ACC. … A lot of these guys were top recruits that came here and all of a sudden were dealing with failure for the first time in their life. And good hitters stay stubborn, but there’s a point you have to give in a little bit - as a coach `Do I tweak them, let them go?’ Guys want to do better (and are accepting coaching).”

Asked how recruits have reacted to DiMare, Lopez said, “Gino has a lot of electricity around him. It’s just jumping out at him. Everyone that gets around him really likes him. … I think they’ve responded well.

“Gino has brought a lot of energy to the program.”

* Arteaga said of his staff that “We have a lot of guys capable of starting - it gives us a lot of options. Early in the year it’s important because we won’t stretch our starters out too much. Roles will change especially in the first month, but we do have a lot of options to go to.”

Asked about McKendry, who came off hip surgery last year, Arteaga said, “he pitched well all spring.”

Of Van belle, Arteaga said, “He’s probably been our best guy (in practices), has put up the best numbers and earned that spot in the weekend rotation.”

- Arteaga said Cecconi has a fastball that tops out at 97 miles per hour.

“He has great natural ability, work to do like most freshmen,” Arteaga said.

Arteaga said Veliz is battling Cecconi to be mid-week starter and that if Veliz doesn’t win out he’d be utilized well in the bullpen.

“Everyone wants to be in the rotation but we believe our bullpen wins and loses games - if you’re up 1-0 in the seventh or eighth inning and your bullpen does not do its job, you’re going to lose every time,” Arteaga said.

* DiMare’s emotions entering his first game as the head coach at Miami?

“I’d be lying if I didn’t say I’m excited,” DiMare said. “That’s all I can say. My mindset is to try and win games, get the program to where we want it to be.”

* McMahon said he thinks this staff can “hold a whole lot of teams to very few runs, give our team a chance to win any game.”

He also said DiMare is stressing to “get after it right away” and have the team “get off to a hot start.”

- What is different about this team?

“We all get along,” McMahon said. “Out here we’re all getting to work. In the locker room we like being around each other, but when we’re out here (on the field) everyone is locked in.”