2022 Miami Hurricanes Baseball Season Preview: The Schedule

Miami has one of the toughest schedules in the country in 2022.

Miami is set to begin their 2022 season on February 18 against Towson, and as always the Hurricanes are expected to play one of the toughest schedules in the country. Miami enters the season ranked in four major polls, including a ranking of No.25 in the D1Baseball preseason Top 25, after a 2021 season where the Hurricanes finished at 33-21 and finished 0.5 games behind Georgia Tech in the ACC’s Coastal Division.

The Hurricanes signed one of the best recruiting classes in the nation and are set to return one of the best position players in the conference in Yohandy Morales and one of the best pitchers in the conference in Carson Palmquist, who is expected to compete for a spot in the starting rotation. Miami’s schedule includes five teams ranked in the preseason Top 25, here’s a view of the Hurricanes’ most important series:

March 4-6: vs No.9 Florida Gators

One of Miami’s most important series of the season will always be the annual series against Florida, and this year there should be high national stakes surrounding this series for the fourth consecutive season. The Hurricanes won the season series for the first time since 2014 last season, and they’ll hope to win the series for the second time in a row in the first weekend of March.

Florida enters 2022 as a near-consensus Top 10 team and a legitimate national title contender. The Gators return key pieces on both offense and defense and add a recruiting class ranked among the best in the country.

This series will be an early test for the Hurricanes in 2022. Miami faces weekend series against Towson and Harvard before taking on Florida, and enters ACC play immediately after taking on the Gators; with Boston College visiting Mark Light Field March 11-14 to begin the conference schedule.

April 1-3: @ No.23 Duke Blue Devils

Chris Pollard has quietly built Duke into a consistent ACC program during his tenure in Durham, and in 2022 the Blue Devils will be a contender for the ACC’s Coastal Division. The Blue Devils had a somewhat up-and-down 2021, but finished strong at the end of the season and won the ACC Tournament to earn the ACC’s automatic-bid for the NCAA Tournament.

The Blue Devils are led by All-ACC outfielder RJ Schreck, who became one of the best players in the conference last season. Schreck is joined by a Top 10 recruiting class that is looking to continue one of the best stretches in Duke baseball history, with the Blue Devils having made the last three NCAA Tournaments.

Miami’s trip to Durham could be one of their toughest of the season. The series will be just the second Hurricanes’ road weekend series of the season; after playing Clemson on the road March 18-20. This road trip is also in the middle of what could be one of Miami’s toughest three weekend stretches of the year, as the Hurricanes take on North Carolina the weekend before travelling to Duke before having to play Virginia at home the weekend after.

April 29 – May 1: @ No.21 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

NCAA Baseball: Nashville Regional-Vanderbilt vs Georgia Tech

Georgia Tech enters 2022 as the favorite in the ACC’s Coastal Division, and potentially one of the best teams in the country. In 2021 the Yellow Jackets finished 0.5 games ahead of Miami in the Coastal Division standings, and 2022 could see a similar battle to win the division.

Kevin Parada leads the Yellow Jackets along with teammate Tres Gonzalez and both were named preseason All-ACC selections ahead of the upcoming season. Parada, in particular, is outstanding, and was a freshman All-American in 2021. He led the Yellow Jackets in hitting at .318, and enters the season as potentially the best catcher in the ACC and quite possibly the country.

Georgia Tech begins this season expecting to win the ACC’s Coastal Division and compete to host a regional and super regional. This series, which begins the last month of the season, could have massive ACC and NCAA Tournament implications.

May 13-15: @ No.11 Florida State Seminoles

NCAA BASEBALL: JUN 08 Div 1 Championship Super Regionals - Florida State at LSU

Much like Miami’s series vs Florida, Florida State will always be another series the Hurricanes’ circle on the calendar before the start of the season. FSU had an inconsistent 2021 under second-year Head Coach Mike Martin, Jr. finishing 31-24, but the Seminoles were excellent in conference play, finishing 20-16 in the ACC and second in their division.

Ahead of 2022 Florida State is expected to again be one of the best teams in the country, and it starts on the mound with sophomore left-hander Parker Messick. Messick is the Perfect Game Preseason National Pitcher of the Year and finished last season as both ACC Freshman of the Year and ACC Pitcher of the Year. Teammate Bryce Hubbart is a preseason third-team All-American and rounds out what could be one of the best starting rotations in the entire country.

Miami’s series on the road against Florida State could turn out to be one of the biggest series of the entire season across the country by the end of the 2022 season. A lot could be on the line in the middle of May in Tallahassee.

May 19-21: vs No.13 Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Notre Dame was one of the surprises of the season in 2021. ND finished the season at 34-13 and were the national No.10 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Irish were an outstanding 25-10 in the ACC, and while it is hard to expect that kind of dominance again this season, Notre Dame should remain one of the conference’s best teams in 2022.

Much like Florida State, Notre Dame’s strength is on the mound, where left-hander John Michael Bertrand will compete with Messick for both ACC and National Pitcher of the Year. Notre Dame also returns 2021 leading-hitter Ryan Cole, along with Aidan Tyrell, who led Notre Dame in ERA last season.

Miami’s series against Notre Dame wraps up the Hurricanes toughest seven-game stretch of the year. Miami travels to Florida State the weekend prior to the Notre Dame series, and has a tough mid-week matchup against FGCU sandwiched between the series between what could quite possibly be the ACC’s two best teams. The Hurricanes have found themselves on the hosting bubble over the last few seasons, and they’ll have a huge late-season opportunity to try to earn a national seed with the way the schedule works out this season.

The Hurricanes 2022 baseball schedule will be difficult as always, and Miami will need to take advantage of their opportunities in March and April before facing one of the toughest schedules in the country in the month of May. Miami should compete for the ACC’s Coastal Division this season, but the Hurricanes likely can’t afford early season slip-ups in 2022.