Miami Hurricanes’ season still alive; Canes get a 3 seed in NCAA baseball tournament

As it turns out, the Miami Hurricanes aren’t done playing baseball just yet.

The NCAA baseball tournament selection committee threw the Canes a bone on Monday, awarding them a 3 seed in the tourney in the Hattiesburg, Mississippi region. They will face the 2 seed Alabama Crimson Tide in their first game this weekend.

If you believe the seeding ladder, the Canes were the weakest 3 seed, meaning they were among the last teams to make the tournament. That sounds about right, as the Canes were about as squarely on the bubble as it seemed.

D1 Baseball and Baseball America both had the Canes in as a 3 seed in their latest projections on Sunday, but I had my doubts to some degree coming in after a gross season outside of a strong April run.

Fortunately, J.D. Arteaga will get one more chance to try to show he’s still the man to lead this sagging program back to prominence, and he’ll have a shot, in my opinion, against a field that’s about as beatable as it gets. Bama has a solid series win over Georgia this year, but they got their clocks cleaned in the SEC tournament by Tennessee 15-10 in their most recent outing in the SEC tournament.

We’ll see if a suddenly struggling Miami offense can get back on track against the Crimson Tide this weekend and jump start a successful showing in their first NCAA Tournament since 2023.

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Update (12:50 pm): the selection committee revealed the last four teams in the field – Arizona State, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, and USC. Amazingly, despite being matched up with the top 2 seed, the Canes weren’t among the final teams in the field.