Baseball Travels To Gainesville To Take On No. 13 Florida

Jan. 31, 2001

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University of Miami Hurricanes (2-1-0)#4 Baseball America, #8 ESPN/Baseball Weekly, #9 Collegiate Baseball
vs.
University of Florida Gators (0-0-0)#13 Baseball America, #13 Collegiate Baseball, #14 ESPN/Baseball Weekly

Games broadcasted by the student voice of the Hurricanes WVUM 90.5 FM

February 3-4, 2001
McKethan Stadium – Perry Field, Gainesville, FL

MIAMI TRAVELS TO GAINESVILLE — The Hurricanes and Gators will play game No. 184 and 185 in the all-time series and No. 89 and 90 in Gainesville dating back to the 1940 season. The Florida series is the longest on-going series on the Hurricanes’ schedule. Only Miami and Florida State have met more times (214), since the 1951 season. Miami leads the all-time series with Florida 103-80-1, but are 35-52-1 in Gainesville. The Gators have won their last 10 meetings with Miami in Gainesville dating back to the 1996 season. UM’s last win at Florida was the second of two games, 10-2, on February 5, 1995.

In addition, the Hurricanes have also won their last 10 meetings with Florida in Coral Gables since 1996, as well.

JIM MORRIS VS. THE GATORS– Since the 1994 season, Head Coach Jim Morris has gone 16-14 against the Gators, including a 2-12 mark in Gainesville. Additionally, Miami is 14-2 against Florida in Coral Gables since 1994. Against the Southeastern Conference, Morris is 32-25 since 1994.

HURRICANES START 2001 WITH SERIES WIN OVER FAU — Miami took its first series of the 2001 season by winning two of three games with Florida Atlantic. With the 2-1 mark against the Owls, Miami moves to 35-6 against FAU since the 1982 season, including wins in 17 of the last 19 meetings.

Game #1, Miami 9, FAU 3 — Miami broke a 2-2 tie in the fourth with three runs to take a hold of the game. UM then put the game out of reach in the eighth with four more runs. UM had five extra base hits, led by catcher Mike DiRosa’s home run. Starter Brian Walker earned the win, along with a strong relief effort from Chris Sheffield. Game #2, FAU 11, Miami 10 — The Owls turned a 10-9 deficit in the ninth into an 11-10 victory in Boca Raton after UM closer Luke DeBold allowed three hits, one walk and two earned runs for the loss. Six lead changes occured in the contest, including a late three-run rally by the Hurricanes to tie the game 9-9 in the eighth. Game #3, Miami 4, FAU 2 — The Hurricanes never trailed, as starter Tom Farmer earned the victory. Farmer had six strikeouts, along with the save by DeBold and a solid relief effort from Alex Prendes. Kevin Howard had a two-run homer in the third to give UM the winning margin.

FAU WIN GIVES UM 18TH STRAIGHT SERIES WIN — By taking two of three games against Florida Atlantic, with both wins occuring at Mark Light Stadium, UM has now won 18 consecutive three-game series at home and 46th of the last 47 three-game series at the Light. Overall, UM has won its last seven three-game series dating back to the 2000 season. 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.

MIAMI IN SEASON OPENERS — Miami holds a 36-21 overall record in season opening games. The Hurricanes defeated FAU, 9-3, in the 2001 season-opener at Mark Light Stadium on February 25. The last loss in a season-opener for the Hurricanes was January 16, 1997, a 3-2 loss at Hawai’i. UM has not lost a season-opener at home since a 9-7 defeat to Florida on February 3, 1984 (14 games).

EL DUQUE AND C.J. HIGHLIGHT OPENING WEEKEND FESTIVITIES — New York Yankees star pitcher Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez and Florida Marlins catcher Charles Johnson, who starred for the Hurricanes from 1990-92, threw out the first pitches for the University of Miami baseball home games against Florida Atlantic last weekend. Hernandez, better known as “El Duque”, has seen three seasons of action with the New York Yankees since defecting from Cuba in 1998. Hernandez was a star pitcher for the Cuban National Team for many seasons before signing as a free agent by the Yankees for the 1998 season.

Charles Johnson made a quick impact at the University of Miami upon his signing with the Hurricanes in 1989. Johnson, a first round draft pick and 10th overall selection of the Montreal Expos, forgo professional baseball to play with the Hurricanes. In his rookie season at UM, Johnson tied the freshman home run record with 11 to earn a selection to both the Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball newspaper Freshman All-America teams. Johnson eventually concluded his tenure at Miami as a three-year letterman and a two-time Golden Spikes Award finalist. In his final season with UM in 1992, Johnson was named a First-Team All-American by The Sporting News. Upon leaving Miami in 1992, Johnson was once again drafted in the first round by his hometown Florida Marlins, but not before playing with the United States National Team at the Barcelona Olympics.

2001 HURRICANES DEFEAT STAR-STUDDED ALUMNI TEAM 13-1 — Fifty-eight former Hurricanes spanning seven decades returned to Mark Light Stadium on Jan. 20 to take part in the annual alumni game against the 2001 squad. The current Hurricanes were able to use efficient pitching and timely hits en route to the 13-1 victory over the former Hurricanes that included, Pat Burrell (1996-98), Jorge Fabregas (1989-91), David Gil (1997-00), Bobby Hill (1997-99), Aubrey Huff (1997-98), Charles Johnson (1990-92), Ryan Karp (1991) and Denis Pujals (1992-96). The 2001 squad also out-hit the alumni 15-1.

RODRIGUEZ, HOWARD EARN BASEBALL AMERICA PRESEASON THIRD-TEAM HONORS — Junior centerfielder Mike Rodriguez and sophomore third baseman Kevin Howard were each named to the Baseball America 2001 Preseaosn Third-Team All-America list, as selected by the Major League Scouting Directors. Rodriguez was last a freshman all-american two seasons ago, while Howard was arguably the highest decorated freshman player in the nation last season. Howard was the Baseball America National Freshman of the Year as well as first-team freshman All-American.

WALKER EARN NCBWA PRESEASON THIRD-TEAM HONORS — Junior ace Brian Walker was named to the National Collegiate Baseball Writer’s Association preseason third-team. Walker led the pitching staff in 2000 with a 12-2 record at the No. 2 position in the rotation.

WALKER, HOWARD EARN BASEBALL AMERICA PRESEASON THIRD-TEAM HONORS — Junior ace Brian Walker and sophomore third baseman Kevin Howard were each named to Collegiate Baseball’s TPX Louisville Slugger Preseason All-American third-team. Howard was the Co-Freshman of the Year by Collegiate Baseball in 2000.

BASEBALL AMERICA RANKS MIAMI FOURTH IN PRESEASON POLL — The Hurricanes were ranked fourth in Baseball America’s annual preseason top 25 poll. UM was selected behind Georgia Tech, Southern California and Louisiana State. Of Miami’s 56 regular season games, UM play 17 or 30.4% of its schedule against team’s ranked in Baseball America’s preseason top 25 poll (#7 FSU, 6, #13 Florida, 4, #15 Cal State Fullerton, 3, #23 East Carolina, 3, #24 Minnesota, 1).

BASEBALL WEEKLY/ESPN RANKS MIAMI EIGHTH IN PRESEASON POLL — The Hurricanes were ranked eighth in Baseball Weekly/ESPN annual preseason top 25 poll. UM was selected behind Georgia Tech, Louisiana State, Southern California, Florida State, Clemson, Arizona State and Nebraska. Of Miami’s 56 regular season games, UM play 12 or 21.4% of its schedule against team’s ranked in the Baseball Weekly/ESPN preseason top 25 poll (#4 FSU, 6, #12 Cal State Fullerton, 3, #14 Florida, 4).

COLLEGIATE BASEBALL RANKS MIAMI NINTH IN PRESEASON POLL — The Hurricanes were ranked ninth in the Collegiate Baseball newspaper annual preseason top 40 poll. UM was selected behind Georgia Tech, Southern California, Louisiana State, Nebraska, Clemson, Arizona State, Rice and Florida State. Of Miami’s 56 regular season games, UM play 22 or 39.3% of its schedule against team’s ranked in the Collegiate Baseball preseason top 40 poll (#8 FSU, 6, #12 Cal State Fullerton, 3, #13 Florida, 4, #30 East Carolina, 3, #31 FIU, 4, #35 Oklahoma State, 1, #39 Minnesota, 1).