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Gino DiMare breaks down the challenge of narrowing down to a starting lineup for opening weekend

by:Austin Brezina•02/15/23•

AustinBrezina59

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Photo by Samuel Lewis/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Ahead of their season-opening series with Penn State this weekend, Miami coach Gino DiMare shared his approach to setting a starting lineup. The Hurricanes are hosting the Nittany Lions this weekend at Mark Light Field, and according to DiMare it will be the first time this year that players will face the harsh reality of a college lineup.

Gino DiMare on setting his lineup

“It’s opening game, so I mean no team is gonna be at their peak. And shouldn’t be. We wanna kind of have a season where we can continue to get better and better and better and be at our peak at the end of the season. But I mean, I think if anything the challenges that come with it is just handling — first of all, lineup,” started DiMare.

“Only nine guys are playing, that’s probably the biggest challenge. When you’re scrimmaging everybody plays in terms of position players. Play everybody in the lineup, both teams, everybody’s playing and getting at-bats. Now you have nine guys. That’s why the Alumni Game is good, for one reason there. Two, also, is you put up one lineup. Now I try to play everybody which we did, as the hitters are concerned.”

DiMare went on to explain that the reality of college sports was that some people were going to play and others were not when the games matter. While the entire season will be used to develop the best lineup for the College World Series push, now the Hurricanes will earn spots on the field based on their own work.

“And that’s the case come Friday night. There’s gonna be a starting lineup and not everybody is going to play in the game. Not all 19 hitters.

“So that’s one of those things that players are gonna have to handle and deal with. There’s a saying that Coach Morris used to say that I agree with 100 percent — ‘The players make out the lineup. I just write it in.’ We go off of their production. We’re going off from the fall and the spring and how they produced and who we think the best guys are to give us a chance to win.”