The A-B-C's of NCAA baseball's Coral Gables Regional for Texas, Miami, Louisiana and Maine
For the first time since 2017, Texas is hitting the road for a baseball regional in the NCAA Tournament. No. 9 seed Miami will host Texas, Louisiana and Maine in the Coral Gables Regional that starts Friday.
Want to know more about this weekend? That's as easy as A-B-C.
A is for the American East Conference
Maine (32-19) was the American East's champion during both the regular season and conference tournament. The AEC last had a team advance past a regional in 2012 when Stony Brook won the Coral Gables Regional and eventually reached the College World Series.
B is for Bobcats
As in the Texas State Bobcats. Louisiana (40-22) went 5-0 against them during the month of May. That same Texas State team split a two-game series with Texas in April.
C is for closer
Miami's Andrew Walters has recorded 11 saves, 68 strikeouts and just seven walks over 41⅔ innings. Four of the five runs scored against him have been plated by solo home runs.
D is for David
Texas coach David Pierce said Monday that Longhorns left-handed reliever David Shaw (elbow) won't be available this weekend. Shaw leads the Texas bullpen with 26 appearances this season.
E is for errors
Louisiana, Texas (38-20) and Miami have committed 126 errors over their 179 combined games. Those three schools respectively are No. 6, No. 15 and No. 25 nationally in fielding percentage.
F is for Floridians
This weekend's regional will serve as a homecoming for six visiting players. Texas' Eric Kennedy (Tampa) and Lebarron Johnson, Jr., (Jacksonville) and Louisiana's Trey LaFleur (Pensacola) and Jackson Nezuh (St. Cloud) are all from Florida. Maine designated hitter Connor Goodman lists Miami Beach as his hometown and teammate Jake Marquez went to Miami's Christopher Columbus High.
G is for Gino
Miami's Gino DiMare has spent 28 years as a head coach, assistant coach and player for the Hurricanes. He's tied to two of the program's national titles.
H is for home runs
Maine slugger Jeremiah Jenkins leads all of the Coral Gables participants with his 20 home runs. Maine's Quinn McDaniel and Jake Rainess, Miami's Blake Cyr and Yohandy Morales and Texas' Kennedy have all hit 16.
I is for intentional walks
Morales has been walked intentionally nine times this season. Combined, Texas and Louisiana's entire teams have been issued eight free passes.
J is for Jared
Texas first baseman Jared Thomas has started 54 games. Among the freshmen participating in the Coral Gables Regional, only Miami's Cyr (55) has started more.
K is for Kennedy
A fifth-year outfielder, Kennedy ranks third in the Texas record books for both career starts (223) and at-bats (868). If he plays twice this weekend, he'll bypass Mark Payton's 234 career games from 2011-14 for third place as well.
L is for left-hander
Among qualified Division I left-handed pitchers, Texas' Lucas Gordon's 2.55 ERA ranks fourth-best nationally. Only UC Santa Barbara's Hudson Barrett (1.92), Loyola Marymount's Diego Barrera (2.17) and Alabama State's Omar Melendez (2.52) have lower ERAs this season.
M is for Mark Light Field
The Hurricanes' home field since 1973 is named after the son of a major benefactor who died of muscular dystrophy. The facility was officially renamed "Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field" in 2009 after the MLB star donated nearly $4 million for stadium renovations. The stadium has a listed capacity of 3,552.
N is for neutral site
Maine is 5-4 in neutral site games this season, Louisiana is 4-3 and Texas is 0-5. Meawhile, Miami is 28-5 at home.
O is for Omaha
Seven players on Texas' roster have appeared in at least one game in the College World Series, which is held every year in Omaha, Neb.
P is for Pitelli
Dominic Pitelli is the first Miami shortstop to record double-digit home runs and 50 RBIs since Ryan Braun in 2003.
Q is for Quinn
Maine's Quinn McDaniel is scoring a nation-leading 1.49 runs per game, and his 76 runs are one off a school record that was set in 1991 by future MLB player Mark Sweeney. The 60 walks drawn by McDaniel are the most-ever for a Black Bear.
R is for RBIs
The single-game highs for RBIs for each team this year? Nine of Pitelli's 50 RBIs came in Miami's win over Presbyterian on May 5. Kennedy's eight RBIs led Texas past San Jose State on May 12, and Texas' Porter Brown matched that feat six days later against West Virginia. Maine's McDaniel drove in seven runs against Saint Joseph's in March. And Louisiana's Julian Brock had six RBIs in a nonconference beating of Grambling.
S is for steals
Louisiana ranks third nationally with its school-record 161 steals. Rainess has tied a Maine program record with his 38 stolen bases.
T is for thirty-five
Texas outfielder Dylan Campbell enters the NCAA Tournament with a 35-game hitting streak. If he gets a hit against Louisiana on Friday, he'll own the Big 12's record outright. His streak has been the school standard at Texas since his 26th game.
U is for ULM
As in Louisiana-Monroe. Starting with a game against ULM, Louisiana won four of the five games that Nezuh started in May. A Florida State transfer, Nezuh is 9-5 with a 6.14 ERA. He leads Louisiana pitchers in starts (17) and innings (85).
V is for victories
Maine has recorded a victory in each of its last seven games. Only four teams — Oral Roberts (18 games), Clemson (16), Penn (eight) and Santa Clara (eight) — are entering the NCAAs with longer streaks.
W is for Wake Forest
The top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, Wake Forest (47-10) went 3-1 against Miami (40-19) this season. The Hurricanes, however, recorded a 7-2 win over the Demon Deacons in last week's ACC Tournament.
X is for X-factors
Miami is 28-6 when it homers at least twice in a game. Texas is 10-2 in games in which its starting pitchers make it through the sixth inning. Louisiana is 22-9 when it scores in the first inning. Maine is 12-2 when it strikes out at least 10 opponents.
Y is for Yuhasz
Louisiana's Luke Yuhasz has appeared in 20 games his freshman year. He's a Louisiana product who went to Sam Houston High outside of Lake Charles, where he was a former teammate of 2023 Texas signee Sam Ardoin.
Z is for zero
There are zero schools that have made more appearances in the College World Series than Texas (38) and Miami (25). Texas and Miami have battled eight times in Omaha, with UT holding a 5-3 edge. Miami, though, beat Texas for the 1985 national championship.
Coral Gables Regional
Friday-Monday, Coral Gables, Fla.
Friday — (Game 1) Texas vs. Louisiana, 1 p.m., LHN, 104.9; (2) Miami vs. Maine, 6 p.m., ESPN+
Saturday (TV, radio TBA) — (3) Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser, 11 a.m.; (4) Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner, 5 p.m.
Sunday (TV, radio TBA) — (5) Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 loser, 11 a.m.; (6) Game 5 winner vs. Game 4 winner, 5 p.m.
Monday (time, TV, radio TBA) — Game 6 second game, if needed
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas, Miami, Louisiana and Maine and their NCAA baseball regional
