Notes In Brief For The Georgia Tech Series
May 3, 2000
Up Next:
#13/12/13 Miami (30-15-1) vs. #4/6/7 Georgia Tech (37-11)
This Weekend’s Broadcast:
RADIO – Flagship WQAM 560 AM (Sun.)
Spanish WACC 830 AM (Sun.)
Student WVUM 90.5 FM (All games)
TELEVISION – Fox Sports Net (All games)
INTERNET – at www.hurricanesports.com
MIAMI HOSTS GEORGIA TECH
Georgia Tech (37-11, 16-5 ACC) enters the three-game series ranked as high as No. 4 by Baseball America. The Yellow Jackets also stand in first place in the Atlantic Coast Conference, two games ahead of Florida State.
MIAMI HOSTS GEORGIA TECH IN THREE-GAME SERIES: Miami and Georgia Tech have met 41 previous times, with the Hurricanes holding a 28-11-2 advantage since 1958. Head Coach Jim Morris came to Coral Gables from Georgia Tech where he amassed 504 wins in 12 seasons in Atlanta to become the Yellow Jackets all-time winningest coach. UM and Tech met in consecutive seasons in 1997 and 1998, with Miami taking five of the six meetings. In the decade of the1990’s, Miami won 10-of-12 meetings. At Mark Light Stadium, the Hurricanes hold a 17-3-2 mark all-time against the Yellow Jackets.
PROJECTED UM LINE-UP (2000 STATS):
By Position
| Pos. | # | Player | Ht. | Wt. | Yr. | B/T | BA | HR | RBI | Hometown |
| C | 14 | Mike DiRosa | 5-11 | 190 | So. | R/R | .289 | 2 | 21 | Miami, FL |
| 1B | 22 | Danny Matienzo | 5-11 | 190 | Fr. | R/R | .347 | 6 | 40 | Miami, FL |
| 2B | 6 | Kris Clute | 5-10 | 180 | Jr. | R/R | .320 | 2 | 29 | Miami, FL |
| SS | 0 | Javy Rodriguez | 5-11 | 188 | So. | R/R | .346 | 4 | 26 | Miami, FL |
| 3B | 24 | Kevin Howard | 6-3 | 185 | Fr. | L/R | .427 | 3 | 42 | Thousand Oaks, CA |
| LF | 10 | Kevin Mannix | 5-11 | 6-1 | 198 | R/R | .313 | 5 | 22 | Syosset, NY |
| CF | 9 | Mike Rodriguez | 5-10 | 175 | So. | L/L | .338 | 2 | 28 | Cooper City, FL |
| RF | 8 | Manny Crespo | 5-11 | 185 | Jr. | R/R | .290 | 6 | 33 | Miami, FL |
| DH | 11 | Lale Esquivel | 6-3 | 210 | Sr. | R/R | .339 | 16 | 49 | Arlington, TX |
Pitching Rotation
Game #47 – Saturday
2000 Statistics
| Player | Ht | Wt | Yr | Rec | ERA | App | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | |
| David Gil | 6-4 | 220 | Sr. | RHP | 8-1 | 2.56 | 13 | 77.1 | 62 | 28 | 22 | 31 | 89 |
NOTE: Earned his third consecutive win in game #1 against Long Beach State tying a career-high with 8.0 innings pitched with six hits, three earned runs, three walks and five strikeouts. Also, held LBS scoreless in his final five innings.
Game #48 – Sunday
2000 Statistics
| Player | Ht | Wt | Yr | Rec | ERA | App | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | |
| Brian Walker | 6-3 | 204 | So. | LHP | 8-2 | 2.93 | 13 | 67.2 | 62 | 28 | 22 | 21 | 61 |
NOTE: Earned the win in game #2 against Long Beach State tying a career-ling with 7.0 innings pitched with four hits, two runs, one earned, three walks and three strikeouts.
Game #49 – Monday
2000 Statistics
| Player | Ht | Wt | Yr | Rec | ERA | App | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | |
| Kiki Bengochea | 6-2 | 195 | Fr. | RHP | 4-3 | 3.48 | 15 | 62.0 | 62 | 35 | 24 | 24 | 52 |
NOTE: Scored the loss in game #3 against Long Beach, pitching 6.0 innings with six hits, five runs, three earned, three walks and five strikeouts.
Head Coach: Jim Morris (Elon ’72)
At Miami: 329-103-1 .761 7th SeasonHead Coach - D-I: 833-347-2 .706 19th SeasonHead Coach - Overall: 964-388-2 .713 22nd Season
Assistant Coach: Lazaro Collazo (15th Season, Miami, ’88)
Assistant Coach: Gino DiMare (4th Season, Miami, ’92)
Assistant Coach: Mark Kingston (1st Season, North Carolina, ’92)
JIM MORRIS’ HURRICANES AGAINST THE ACC: Since Head Coach Jim Morris‘ first season with the Hurricanes in 1994, Miami has forged a 31-7 record against Atlantic Coast Conference schools without the annual six-game series with Florida State factoried in. With Florida State factored in, UM is 54-23 against the ACC since 1994.
Miami vs. the ACC
| School | Morris Era | All-Time |
| Clemson | 7-5 | 19-13-1 |
| Duke | 3-0 | 5-2 |
| Florida State | 26-13 | 98-112-3 |
| Georgia Tech | 5-1 | 28-11-2 |
| Maryland | — | — |
| North Carolina | 6-2 | 13-6 |
| North Carolina State | 4-2 | 8-4 |
| Virginia | — | 1-0 |
| Wake Forest | 3-0 | 7-1 |
CALIFORNIA KID – KEVIN HOWARD HAS SUCCESS AGAINST LONG BEACH STATE: Freshman Kevin Howard had his most efficient weekend as a Miami Hurricane against Long Beach State. Howard batted .833 as he went 10-12 from the plate over the weekend, including team-highs in runs scored (6), hits (10), at bats (12), doubles (2), home runs (2), RBI (8) and total bases (18). In addition to his offense prowess, Howard also tied and broke various UM freshman records: two home runs in a game (Saturday) ties Manny Crespo’s (1998) freshman record as does the seven RBI from that game. Howard also reached base 14 consecutive times over the weekend to break the old-mark of 13 set by Mike Fiore (1985).
UM CONTINUE ITS HOME THREE-GAME SERIES STREAK: With its 12-2 win over Long Beach State on Saturday, Miami won its 15th consecutive three game series at Mark Light Stadium. In addition, UM has won 43 of its past 44 three-game series at home. Since April, 1995, UM has lost a three-game series at home just once when Florida State took two of three games, May 1-3, 1998.
ESQUIVEL, CRESPO CONTINUE RISE ON THE ALL-TIME HOME RUN CHARTS INTO FIFTH: Lale Esquivel’s home run against Long Beach State on Sunday marked his 36th career home run at Miami and places him in 5th all-time ahead of Frank Dominguez (35, 1985-88). In the last three weekends Esquivel has risen from 13th to 5th after hitting seven home runs. Former All-American catcher Charles Johnson sits in fourth place with 38 career home runs.
With his home run against Long Beach State on Saturday, Manny Crespo moved into a seventh-place tie with Jason Michaels (1997-98) with 34 career home runs.
GIL REMAINS IN NINTH IN CAREER STRIKEOUTS WITH 282: David Gil recorded five strikeouts against Long Beach State to give him 288 for his career. That figure keeps him in ninth, 23 strikeouts behind No. 8 Dan Davis (305, 1983-86). He last moved past Mark Batten (1976-79) and Jeff Alkire (1989-92), who each had 274, following his N.C. State outing.
BENGOCHEA SELECTED TO USA BASEBALL TEAM CAMP: Freshman pitcher Kiki Bengochea was among the first 20 collegiate players invited to participate in the 2000 United States Baseball National Team Trials, to be held in Tucson, AZ, June 16-21. Bengochea, who is the Hurricanes No. 3 starter, is one of five freshmen selected overall and one of three freshman pitchers. The National Team will be selected from a pool of 35-40 players at the trials. USA Baseball will announce the names of the remaining players to be invited by the end of May. University of Southern California head coach Mike Gillespie will serve as the head coach.
