Baesball Hosts Cornell
March 20, 2001
Coral Gables, Fla. (www.hurricanesports.com) — – The University of Miami baseball team (21-6), ranked as high as sixth by Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball, host Cornell (1-3) Wednesday, March 21 at 7 p.m. at Mark Light Stadium. The game can beard over the radio at the student voice of the Hurricanes, WVUM 90.5 FM, as well as on the Internet at UM’s official athletics website hurricanesports.com.
Miami leads the series with Cornell, 3-2, but have not played since the 1984 season. Additionally, all five games took place in Coral Gables. The last time the school’s met, the Hurricanes defeated the Big Red, 8-6, on March 25, 1984. Prior to that game, Cornell swept a double-header with UM, 6-3 and 4-3, during the 1973 season. Miami won the first two meetings with Cornell in 1971, 9-3 and 6-3, on separate dates.
The Hurricanes are coming off a three-game series victory over then-#19 East Carolina at Mark Light Stadium and a two-game sweep at South Florida last week. Against the Pirates, UM won the Friday and Sunday contests with scores of 14-13 and 8-4. The Hurricanes dropped Saturday’s game to ECU 7-2. At USF, Miami outlasted the Bulls in two slugfests, 13-9 and 8-2. The two games against USF saw the two teams combine for 44 hits and 32 runs.
Cornell, who plays Hartford tonight in the Homestead Challenge, has a 1-3 overall record. Recently, the Big Red earned their first win of the season, 13-9, last night over Northeastern. Prior to its game with the Wildcats, Cornell was swept in a double-header at Bucknell, 8-7 and 4-1, and shutout by Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 8-0, at the Homestead Challenge this past Sunday.
On the mound for the Hurricanes will be junior right-hander Chris Sheffield (2-0, 3.98 ERA). He last earned the win against USF last Tuesday, pitching a career-high 6.0 innings with six hits, two earned runs, two walks and five strikeouts. Sheffield has made six appearances in 2001 with four starts and places third on the staff with 30 strikeouts.
Offensively, UM has started to pick it up batting .301 as a team on the season. Individually, the Hurricanes are led by junior left-fielder Marcus Nettles’ .400 batting average. Nettles, who places second to Javy Rodriguez (27) with 18 stolen bases, has started 20-of-22 games batting leadoff for the Hurricanes. Rodriguez is batting .375 with a club-high 31 RBI and 39 hits. Kevin Howard checks in with a .352 batting average and is tops on the team with 56 total bases.
Following its mid-week contest with the Big Red, UM will host Northeastern in a three-game series this Friday through Sunday at Mark Light. Start times are 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday. All three games can be heard on WVUM 90.5 FM, as well as on the Internet at hurricanesports.com. UM’s flagship station Sports Radio 560 WQAM will carry Saturday’s game, while the Hurricanes’ Spanish Broadcast Network on WACC 830 AM Radio Paz will carry both Friday and Saturday contests. Fox Sports Net Florida will televise the Saturday game live.
Call 1-800-GO-CANES for season and individual game ticket information. To join the excitement, log on to hurricanesports.com and become a member of Hurricane Watch, the on-line loyalty program that allows you to purchase tickets on-line, transfer tickets to friends via email and earn Hurricane rewards for each game you attend at the Light.
