After 2-year absence, Hurricanes back in NCAA tournament

Gino DiMare leads Miami back to postseason in first year

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – For the first time in two years, the Miami Hurricanes are back in the NCAA tournament.

Miami (39-18) will face Central Michigan (46-12) in the Starkville, Mississippi, regional Friday at 8 p.m., the NCAA announced Monday.

The other teams in the regional are No. 6 national seed Mississippi State (46-13) and Southern (32-22).

Complete NCAA Baseball Regional Schedule

First-year head coach Gino DiMare led the Hurricanes to a second-place finish in the Atlantic Coast Conference Coastal Division after succeeding longtime skipper Jim Morris, who retired after last season. DiMare was a standout outfielder for the Hurricanes from 1989-92 and was an assistant under Morris since joining the staff as a volunteer coach in 1997.

Miami participated in an NCAA-record 44 consecutive NCAA tournaments from 1974-2016.

The top eight seeds in the NCAA tournament are UCLA (47-8), Vanderbilt (49-10), Georgia Tech (41-17), Georgia (44-15), Arkansas (41-17), Mississippi State, Louisville (43-15) and Texas Tech (39-17).