Miami All-American closer’s uncle was catalyst for one of UM football’s famous finishes

Andrew Walters — a Miami baseball consensus All-American and the nation’s top returning closer when the season begins Friday against Penn State — had just turned 11 months old when his uncle, starting defensive tackle Matt Walters, made an interception that sparked one of the most iconic finishes in University of Miami football history.

It was Nov. 10, 2001, and the Walters family and friends had gathered in their home to watch the Boston College game in which Uncle Matt and teammate Ed Reed finished with a flair not duplicated since. With 35 seconds left and the home-team Eagles — down by only five points — driving on first-and-goal from the Miami 9-yard line, Eagles quarterback Brian St. Pierre threw a ball that bounced off UM cornerback Mike Rumph’s knee, landed in the arms of Walters, was snatched out of Walters’ hands by Reed and ended up in the end zone for an 80-yard Reed touchdown and 18-7 UM victory that preserved the eventual national championship.

But all little Andrew could do, shocked by the jubilant commotion in his home, was to “scream and bawl his eyes out,’’ said his mother, Angie.

“Brings back memories every time I’m down at UM,’’ said Matt, 43, a mechanical engineer in Melbourne who hears about his miraculous play whenever he visits campus and watches his nephew play.

“I thought it was all going to end right there for Miami,’’ Kyle, Andrew’s father and Matt’s older brother, said. “Matt intercepted the ball, Ed Reed scored, we went nuts and Andrew started screaming because he was scared.”

“Scared to death,’’ Angela said.

Dominating

These days, it seems like nothing could scare Andrew Walters, a lifelong Hurricanes fan who had a 2022 season so dominating that the numbers are almost hard to fathom. Walters, 6-4 and 220 pounds, last season led the Atlantic Coast Conference with 14 saves in 24 appearances while holding batters to a .116 average. A national Stopper of the Year finalist, he registered a 10.3 strikeout-to-walk ration, striking out 62 and walking six over 32 2/3 innings. His earned-run average: 1.65.

“He dominated like no other pitcher I can recall,’’ said UM coach Gino DiMare, a star outfielder for UM from 1989 to ‘92 and former longtime Canes assistant. “I’ve always been a big believer that the guy with the ball at the end of the game needs to be your best guy. Only six walks to 62 strikeouts and .116 opponents’ batting average — I can’t imagine anyone having better numbers than that.”

DiMare said that last year’s opening-day starter Carson Palmquist, who in 2021 was UM’s nationally heralded closer and was drafted in July in the third round by the Colorado Rockies, made it clear that he “wanted to be a starter” his final season.

“Andrew was more or less, ‘I’ll do whatever it takes to help the team win,’’’ DiMare said. “From the moment I met with Andrew and his dad after the season, he never said he wanted to be a starter. He wanted to get better, wanted to play with his brother, wanted to work on his development of off-speed pitches and wanted to win a national championship.’’

Walters’ lethal fastball starts at about 95 mph and tops out at 99.

“There’s a lot of deception to his delivery,’’ UM pitching coach/associate head coach J.D. Arteaga said. “That’s the modern-era verbiage for he has a lot of life to his fastball. The natural movement of a fastball descends on the way to the plate. His has more carry. It has the appearance of a rising fastball but it doesn’t rise. It keeps its plane longer so a lot of hitters swing underneath it.’’

Draft pass

Walters, who began 2022 with 22 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings but ended it with a heartbreaking season-ending loss to Arizona in the NCAA Coral Gables Regional, returned to UM after fielding calls from multiple teams on the first day of the MLB Draft. His $1.7 million contract money that he agreed would have been enough to lure him to the pros never was offered. But the prospect of playing alongside his newly transferred younger brother Brian, coupled with an opportunity to help UM get back to the College World Series, was too enticing to ignore. He was eventually drafted in the 18th round by a Baltimore Orioles organization that he said never even called him before his selection.

“It’s a good feeling to return to UM,’’ said Walters, a quiet, serious fourth-year junior who started his career at Eastern Florida State and expects to earn his degree in business management at the end of this semester. “You can never get back your years playing college baseball. I always sat on my couch wanting to play on that big stage in Omaha. I want another chance to do that, especially with my younger brother.”

Brian, a 6-3, 192-pound, right-handed sophomore reliever and red-haired version of his older brother (who has a strawberry-blonde “rally stach” and said he won’t shave it until UM loses a series), is ecstatic about playing with Andrew after transferring from Florida Eastern State. The two share an apartment “across the street from the field,’’ Brian said, “and always loved playing together in Little League and high school.”

“He’s my best friend,’’ Brian said. “I had Sundays off last season and came to a lot of games. It was really cool watching him throw that fastball. It’s a gift.’’

Regional nightmare

Yet last year, Walters’ final outing in the NCAA regional was a nightmare. He entered the game with UM up 3-2 in the ninth and struck out the first two batters. But the third batter was questionably credited with an infield single after UM shortstop Dominic Pitelli fielded a routine grounder and threw the ball over the head of first baseman CJ Kayfus. Walters then threw a wild pitch, hit a batter and allowed the winning two-run double.

“It was tough,’’ he said. “The highest high on the big stage and to be out there as a [No. 6] national seed and not be able to get it done. I’ve actually thrown the last pitches of both my seasons at Miami, so that kind of hurts. At the same time, it’s sports and it’s something you’ve got to get over. I’ll bring that into this season and go at it again. I can’t be perfect, but I’m going to try with all my heart to be perfect.”

UM coaches had Walters start games during the fall and early spring so he could develop his slider, which they say he has done. But Arteaga believes that final inning “might have played a role in him coming back.’’

“That’s the type of person he is,’’ Arteaga said. “Andrew always wants to do more. He feels like he didn’t do his job that day and wants to finish what he started and was supposed to do. You can’t have much better of a season than he had.’’

Standing tall

Walters certainly has the genes to be a physical force. His father, a custom home builder, stands 6-feet, 8-inches tall and played basketball at Division II Florida Tech in Melbourne. His sister Ali, 17, is 5-10 and plays volleyball and softball. His sister Jenna, 15, is 6-0 and plays volleyball. Both attend Bayside High, the alma mater of Andrew and Brian.

Their mother, a former Florida Tech softball player, at 5-5 is the relatively “little” family member.

“If Kyle would have married someone super tall they might have ended up giants,’’ Angie said. “It would have been awkward for sure.’’

As it was, Andrew grew six inches — from 5-8 to 6-2 — the summer after his sophomore year, he said.

“It was crazy,’’ he said. “My whole body was aching all the time. Muscle pain, joint pain. Honestly, I lost a lot of athleticism that summer. My body felt like one of those huge blowup car dealership things — all over the place.’’

Andrew has long since grown into his body, “the kind of body that’s a prototypical pitcher’s body and projects at the next level,’’ DiMare said. “He’s got a big frame but can still get bigger and stronger. There’s a lot of upside to him.”

Uncle Matt

Uncle Matt, a top scholar who earned his undergraduate and master’s degrees from UM, also had plenty of upside. He was selected by the New York Jets in the fifth round of the 2003 NFL Draft, but his career ended with a hip injury after one season. Walters was listed in the 2002 UM football media guide as 6-5 and 271, but told the Miami Herald he actually weighed closer to 290 heading to the combine. “They wanted teams to think we were smaller to give them some false confidence,’’ he said, laughing.

Matt also wants UM fans to know that Reed was polite during that play, yelling, “Matt! It’s me, Ed!” before he grabbed the football out of his hands. “Two or three Boston College guys were jumping on me at that point, but Ed had the ball and was on his way.”

Uncle Matt will be at the opening baseball series with the rest of the family, he said.

“I was never one to like being the center of attention,’’ Matt Walters said. “But I love that Andrew is in the spotlight and playing with Brian.”

Both nephews grew up watching their uncle’s famous play “hundreds of times,’’ said Brian, who wasn’t born when it happened. “Really cool.’’

As for Andrew, he obviously doesn’t recall the bedlam that led to his frightened “bawling” episode, but said he “absolutely’’ has watched the video repeatedly. His reaction? “He was big, strong and slow’’— his uncle, that is, not Reed. “I told him, ‘You had to give that ball up.’

“He is part of UM sports history, the captain of the D-line that helped lead Miami to a championship.”

At 7 p.m. Friday, Andrew Walters and Hurricanes baseball will begin their quest for their own title, with the whole Walters gang watching from the Mark Light Field bleachers.

“The only banner we have on the field is our national championship years,’’ Walters said of UM’s 1982, 1985, 1999 and 2001 title years. “That’s our standard. That’s what we’re striving for.’’