Video: NCAA Tournament Press Conference, Round 1 Coral Gables Regional
Head Coach Gino DiMare, Second Baseman Blake Cyr, and Starting Pitcher Gage Ziehl were available for media ahead of game one of the NCAA Tournament.
The freshman Cyr third in batting average (.303) is tied for the lead in home runs (16) and is second on the team with 60 RBIs. Ziehl (7-4, 4.60 ERA) has been the most consistent starter for the Miami Hurricanes this season.
Miami had to rely on its bullpen with two consistent starters when healthy in Ziehl and Karson Ligon. DiMare has decided to go with Ziehl as the game-one starter versus Maine.
Last year, Miami hosted the regional in Coral Gables and despite very high expectations was eliminated by the weekend's end.
Best Quote from Gino DiMare:
"Well he's one our captains," DiMare said of Ziehl. "He was our ace going into this season he pitched better than anybody in the fall and the scrimmages coming up. So he actually got off to kind of a slow start. I was never concerned of it only because I know Gage's makeup, his character. Kind of the reason why, and he is right now still too, to be an ace or to be a Friday guy, you have to have a certain mentality. You got to be tough. You got to be able to handle adversity, and he got some, thrown right at him. Right out of the gate. Didn't pout. Didn't whine. Didn't cry. We flipped him and Ligon. Not a problem. He still had the same mindset. You knew it was going to click, it was just a matter of time he was going to get back to his winning ways, and he has. I think a lot of players respect Gage. He's an old-school business-type guy. There's not a lot of messing around with Gage. He's kind of serious about what he does. I would say players look up to that certainly, and have a lot of confidence and faith in him, as do I."
Best Quote from Blake Cyr:
"I've taken something obviously from everybody on the team. Even from some pitchers just on my mindset. But on the hitters side of it, you got YoYo [Yohandy Morales], CJ [Kayfus], Zach [Levenson], Dom[inic] Pitelli, Carlos Lopez, [Ed]gardo Villegas, you have all these different kinds of hitters and you can just pick them apart just watching them and kind of create your own thing. Then again you got Lopes that's how we work every day and in practice on just our plan. We have a plan for every game, each team that we play, so that's what we're doing right now and how we are prepared to play Maine."
Best Quote from Gage Ziehl:
"Definitely last year it was heartbreaking. Something you're never going to forget. But this year we are working as hard as we can and we are going to do whatever we can so that feeling doesn't happen."
The Hurricanes open the Coral Gables Regional Friday night vs. Maine. The first pitch is set for 7 PM EST.
Talk with Miami fans on Canes Talk, Inside Canes Hoops, and Canes on the Diamond
• Subscribe to the Canes County YouTube Channel
• Follow us on Twitter: @Canes_County, @BenjaminRivals, @TheCribSouthFLA, @AnthonyYero1, and @MichaelYero
• Follow us on Instagram: @Canes.County
Follow us on Facebook