The University of Miami is headed back to the NCAA baseball tournament for a record 41st consecutive year, but coach Jim Morris might not make the trip to Louisville, Ky., where the Hurricanes face Oklahoma State on Friday.
Morris remains hospitalized in Durham, N.C. with pneumonia. Morris became ill Saturday shortly before the Hurricanes (36-23) played Clemson in an ACC tournament game and was transported from the team bus to the hospital by ambulance.
Assistant coach Gino DiMare led UM to a 7-1 victory against Clemson and will run the team at the Louisville Regional if the 63-year-old Morris is unable to return.
“We hope he can join us in Louisville, but we just don’t know,” DiMare said of Morris. “Right now, they’re still running tests. He’s resting (and) he’s on medication … We’re keeping him up to date on everything so he knows what’s going on.”
Miami is one of four state schools to make the 64-team NCAA field that begins play Friday. FAU earned an automatic berth after winning the Sun Belt Conference title and opens as a No. 2 seed in Chapel Hill, N.C., against Towson. Florida, seeded No. 3, travels to Bloomington, Ind., and will face Austin Peay. Florida State was rewarded with a top-eight national seed despite being swept in the ACC tournament and hosts Savannah State in its first game.
The Hurricanes, a No. 2 seed, have earned an NCAA berth every year since 1973 but there was some worry the streak might come to an end this season. Since starting 10-0, UM has posted a 26-23 record and finished eighth in the ACC standings with a losing conference record (14-16).
That caused senior outfielder Chantz Mack to get a case of sweaty palms while watching the NCAA field unfold Monday afternoon.
“A lot of weight off my shoulders,” said Mack, UM’s leading hitter with a .297 average. “I was very nervous toward the end of the season that we might not make it because a lot of people were saying that we might not make it.”
FAU is back in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2010 and is riding an 11-game win streak, including a four-game sweep of the Sun Belt tournament.
The joy of making the tournament was tempered slightly by the realization that the Owls will have to get past No. 1 national seed North Carolina to win the regional.
“I was a little surprised,” FAU coach John McCormack said. “I don’t know how these things are done, but I thought we put ourselves in a position to be a high No. 2 seed and would get a little better draw on the No. 1 seed. But we’re happy to be in and we’ll just deal with it.”
The Gators earned their sixth consecutive NCAA berth despite going just 29-28 and having a sub-.500 record in the SEC.
Florida overcame a roster overhaul and a brutal start to the season.
They lost their best five hitters and two of their top three starting pitchers to Major League Baseball at the end of last season and a variety of injuries exacerbated that situation as the Gators started the season 11-16.
If Florida advances, it would face the winner of FSU’s regional the following week, setting up a possible Gators-Seminoles matchup in the best-of-three super regional.
The Seminoles (44-15) are making their 36th consecutive NCAA appearance, second only to Miami.
The No. 7 national seed, which gives FSU home-field advantage in the regional and super regional rounds, was something of a surprise especially after the Seminoles lost their final four games, including three in the ACC tournament.
“There’s no way I can say I was confident that we were a top-eight seed,” FSU coach Mark Martin said.
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