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Miami baseball confident about tourney

RedHawks look to top Toledo in Mid-American Conference tournament.

Pitcher Tyler Melling celebrates a victory.

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By Pete Conrad, Staff Writer Updated 10:53 AM Wednesday, May 25, 2011

OXFORD — As Miami University’s baseball players prepared for today’s start of the Mid-American Conference tournament, they made one thing clear.

This time, things are different. At least it feels different.

“We have a quiet confidence,” senior first baseman Kyle Weldon said. “We’re not over the top, but there’s no doubt in anybody’s mind that we’re going to go in there and do well.”

“Our demeanor going into this tournament is a whole lot different from what it was in last year’s tournament,” sophomore pitcher Mac Thoreson agreed. “We have a high, high confidence level. We really like our chances.”

The RedHawks are the No. 3 seed, their highest seeding since 2005 when they were No. 1, won the MAC title and advanced to the NCAA regionals.

Miami opens against the Toledo Rockets, who beat the RedHawks 7-1 in last year’s tournament opener. Miami has lost its last three MAC tourney games and six of its last eight.

Pitching quality and depth is mandatory for teams that want to survive this tournament, and the RedHawks rank second in the MAC in earned-run average on the strength of its big three starters, Thoreson (5-3 with a 1.86 ERA), Tyler Melling (7-2, 3.68) and Brooks Fiala (6-4, 2.68).

“I think we line up pretty well,” Miami coach Dan Simonds said. “With Mac and Melling and Fiala we feel we can take it deep into the game and let our defense work.

“We feel we have five or six pitchers we can run out there and can give you quality innings, and that’s a good feeling to have,” he said.

Thoreson, who started last season’s tourney opener, will start this one, too. Opposing batters are hitting just .238 against him and he has allowed only 19 walks in 92 innings.

“In my best outings I’ve always had command of my fastball, throwing strikes, getting ahead of the batter, putting pressure on them,” said the right-hander from Knoxville, Tenn.

Winning the first game is critically important in the double-elimination tournament. A team that loses the opener must win two games on Day 2 just to stay alive and usually will expend most of its good pitchers in the process.

“The first game is a must,” Simonds said. “That’s our only focus, and our guys will be ready.”