How the University of Miami’s baseball team is coping with COVID- 19
The University of Miami has 15 athletic teams with more than 450 players combined, and tens of thousands of fans.
The University of Miami baseball team, the Hurricanes (Canes), ranked as high as number five in the nation, had just defeated the University of Central Florida, on March 11, and were anxious to fly up to Virginia Tech the next day for a weekend series.
Then, the word came out that the NBA had postponed its season indefinitely. “I assume our players knew it was coming,” said UM baseball Head Coach Gino DiMare.
“On the route back to Miami, during that four hour trip, a lot of things occurred.” said Coach DiMare. The NCAA announced it would be suspending all athletic events indefinitely, including NCAA championships, such as the College World Series.
“When we got back to campus, we met in the locker room,” DiMare said. “The initial reaction was one of being stunned. A lot of blank looks on their faces.”
On Tuesday, March 17, the Atlantic Coast Conference, of which the Hurricane’s baseball team is a member, cancelled all athletics through the end of the 2019-20 academic year. So a season that started well for the team, ended abruptly.
After the announcement was made, the team met on a conference call. Coach DiMare said, “It was fairly quiet on the players’ end.” As of right now, many kids are making their way home and continuing online school.
Alex Toral, Canes baseball player said, “I really didn’t like the feeling of not being able to play the game I love for a whole season basically, and getting the 2020 canes season cut short. We all believed we could’ve been the best team in the country in June and win the college world series so it’s tough not being able to compete.”
Head Coach DiMare said, “Life without baseball is strange, and this ending has been surreal. We’ll never know what could have been, but this team had a chance to be very special. I thought the pitching staff was as good as any since I’ve been at Miami. And we were starting to swing the bat better. Certainly you feel for the players, but I think everybody, and I mean everybody in the entire world, understands this is something bigger than baseball and winning a championship.”
