Baseball Hosts Florida State In Season's Biggest Series
April 11, 2001
Coral Gables, Fla. (www.hurricanesports.com) — – The University of Miami baseball team (28-9), ranked as high as eighth by Baseball America, host #4 Florida State (31-7) in a three-game series beginning this Friday through Sunday at Mark Light Stadium. Game times are scheduled for 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday.
The Saturday game will be highlighted with the Orlando Magic’s Tracy McGrady throwing out the ceremonial first pitch. McGrady was a first round draft pick of the Toronto Raptors coming out of Mount Zion Christian Academy in 1997. This past summer he signed as a free agent with the Magic, who will be in town to face the Miami Heat.
Fox Sports Net Florida will televise all three games with WPLG Channel 10 sportscaster Frank Forte, WQAM’s Joe Zagacki and former UM standout Wicho Hernandez. The Friday night game will be appear on tape delay at 11:30 p.m., while Saturday and Sunday will be live.
UM’s flagship station Sports Radio WQAM, with the voice of the Hurricanes Marc Vandermeer, will carry all three games on WAXY 790 AM. UM’s Spanish Broadcast Network on WACC 830 AM Radio Paz with Jerry del Castillo and Pepe Campos will pick-up the Saturday game. All three games can be heard over the Internet at hurricanesports.com, as well as on the student voice of the Hurricanes, WVUM 90.5 FM.
Miami and Florida State have met 216 times since the 1951 season with the Seminoles leading 114-99-3. Under Head Coach Jim Morris (1994-present), the Hurricanes hold a 27-20 record vs. FSU. The Miami/FSU series is the second-oldest on-going rivalry on the Hurricanes schedule behind the Florida series (1940), but UM and FSU have played the most games (216). Additionally, UM is 13-8, under Morris, against the Seminoles at Mark Light Stadium since 1994 and have won 12 of the last 16 games played at home.
The Seminoles enter the series having swept their last three ACC series against Wake Forest, North Carolina and Clemson and ranked as high as No. 2 by Baseball Weekly/ESPN Coaches’ Poll. Additionally, FSU received a No. 3 ranking from Collegiate Baseball and No. 4 from Baseball America.
On the mound for the Hurricanes Friday night will be right-hander Kiki Bengochea (6-2, 2.76 ERA). The sophomore from Miami leads the team in innings pitched (65.1) and strikeouts (59). The former third-round pick of the Kansas City Royals will be making his third appearance as the UM’s No. 1 pitcher on Friday.
Following Bengochea, will be left-hander Brian Walker (7-1, 3.32 ERA) on Saturday. The junior and former Pittsburgh Pirates draft pick leads the staff with his seven wins and also has a school-record 12 pick-offs. Walker owns the school-record for single-game pick-offs (3, twice), single-season (12) and career (23). He did not pitch last weekend against Savannah State after taking the weekend off.
Senior Tom Farmer (7-2, 4.12 ERA) rounds out the starting rotation on Sunday. Farmer is tied with Walker for the team-high in wins (7). He also places second with his 59.0 innings pitched and third with 40 strikeouts.
Offensively, UM is led by Javy Rodriguez’ .397 batting average, followed by Marcus Nettles (.369), Kevin Howard (.320) and Mike Rodriguez (.313).
In addition to his team-high batting average, Javy Rodriguez leads the team in slugging percentage (.580), hits (52), RBI (40), total bases (76) and stolen bases (37). This past weekend, he raised his average 27 points by batting .667 against Savannah State with seven runs scored, one double, two home runs, seven RBI, three walks, no strikeouts and 8-for-8 on stolen base attempts.
Nettles places second on the team in on-base percentage (.488), runs scored (31), walks (21) and stolen bases (26). Howard places second on the team with 47 hits, 24 RBI and 67 total bases and ranks fourth in batting average (.320) and runs scored (26). Mike Rodriguez leads the team with 32 runs scored and 11 doubles and has the third-most hits (41), total bases (64), walks (18) and stolen bases (25).
During the Saturday April 14th game, one lucky fan will have the chance to walk out $100,000 richer by participating in the OleoMed $100,000 Homerun Challenge. In addition, someone will win the Williamson Cadillac Escalade SUV being raffled off by the Band of the Hour. The first 5,000 fans through the gates will receive a free OleoMed seat cushion.
Then on Sunday April 15th, the game will kick off with President Foote throwing out the Ceremonial First Pitch. The first 500 fans through the gates will receive a FREE University of Miami/Fuddrucker’s Baseball Bat on Sunday.
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.
