May 31, 2001
Coral Gables, Fla. (www.hurricanesports.com) — – The No. 1-ranked University of Miami baseball team (47-12) will host Clemson (41-20) in the Coral Gables Super Regional at Mark Light Stadium this weekend. Game times for the best-of-three series are 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday if a third game is necessary.
The Hurricanes, who hold the No. 1 ranking in all four collegiate baseball polls, enter the Super Regional having won 11 straight games, the longest current win streak in the nation. Last weekend, Miami swept Bucknell, Florida and Stetson en-route to the Coral Gables Regional title. UM first baseman Kevin Brown was named the Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player and was joined by five other Hurricanes on the All-Tournament team.
Clemson also won its own regional last weekend with a three-game sweep of William and Mary and Seton Hall twice. First baseman Michael Johnson was named the Tournament MVP and was also joined by five of his teammates on the All-Tournament list.
Miami and Clemson are two of the six teams that have advanced to the Super Regional round in each of the three seasons of the current format. Joining the two schools in the feat are Florida State, LSU, Southern California and Stanford.
Miami is making its 30th overall postseason appearance since 1971 and is hosting its second Super Regional. UM has made it to the College World Series a NCAA-high 18 times since 1974, the Hurricanes first visit to Omaha. The last time UM held the Super Regional in 1999 it defeated Wake Forest in two games to advance the College World Series and went on to win the national championship.
Clemson is making its 27th postseason appearance and has advanced to the College World Series nine times.
The Hurricanes hold a 19-13-1 all-time record versus Clemson and have gone 7-5 against the Tigers under Jim Morris. The Tigers won the last meeting between the two schools, 4-0, in 2000 at the ACC/Disney Baseball Blast in Orlando. Prior to that 2000 meetings, UM took two of three games with Clemson in 1999 at the Knight’s Castle in Charlotte, NC. Clemson’s last visit to Mark Light Stadium was in 1995 with the Hurricanes winning two of the three meetings.
In the postseason, Miami and Clemson have met 10 times with the Hurricanes holding the 7-3 advantage. Additionally, UM has won the last six meetings between the two teams in the postseason.
Miami is led by junior shortstop Javy Rodriguez, who has team-high numbers in batting average (.389), hits (84), RBI’s (57), triples (4), total bases (118) and stolen bases (61). His 61 steals lead the nation, as does his 1.07 per-game average. He was recently selected to the Coral Gables Regional All-Tournament team last weekend and was a second-team All-American by Louisville Slugger. With one more stolen base, he Rodriguez will tie the UM school-record of 62 by Orlando Gonzalez set in 1974.
The Hurricanes also lead the nation in stolen bases with 203, more than 50 above second-place North Carolina A&T (150). Marcus Nettles (43 stolen bases) and Mike Rodriguez (46 stolen bases) join Javy Rodriguez to form the 1-2-3 nationally rated players among team’s in the postseason.
Brown leads the club with his 12 home runs and has hit seven since the Florida State series in mid-April. In this span of games, he is batting .304. In the regional title game over Stetson he hit three home runs, including a grand slam, to total 10 RBI and 12 total bases. The 10 RBI set a new NCAA Regional record, previously held by former Cal State Fullerton standout Mark Kotsay.
On the mound for the Hurricanes on Friday night will be senior RHP Tom Farmer (13-2, 3.18 ERA). Farmer was named to last weekend’s All-Tournament team after throwing 7.0 scoreless innings in UM’s 6-2 win over state-rival Florida. He has won five consecutive starts and has earned wins in seven of his last eight appearances with one no-decision. Farmer has gone 7-0 with a 2.00 ERA since dropping his last decision to Cal State Fullerton on April 1.
As a team, UM is batting .301 with 65 home runs. The team has also recorded 114 doubles and 16 triples, as well. Most impressive is its 203 stolen bases, which places second all-time at Miami, as well as lead the nation. The pitching staff has a 3.67 ERA, which ranks 18th nationally, and 18 saves.
During its 11-game win streak, the team is batting .337 with a 3.55 ERA. Greg Lovelady leads the pack with a .500 batting average, followed by Brown (.445), Mike Rodriguez (.412), Kevin Mannix (.389), Javy Rodriguez (.375), Danny Matienzo (.342), Charlton Jimerson (.333) and Jim Burt (.333). Farmer has a 1.12 ERA in four starts during this span. In these 11 games, the team is 63-of-67 in stolen base attempts. UM is also outscoring opponents by an average of 12-4.
The Tigers’ top two batters are Casey Stone (.380) and Jeff Baker (.377). Stone batted .500 in last weekend’s regional, while Baker had a .400 batting average. Johnson led the club with a .636 batting average, three home runs and nine RBI’s last weekend. As a team, the Tigers are batting .301 with 83 home runs. The pitching staff has recorded a 3.92 ERA with 10 saves.
BROADCAST INFORMATION
The Sunshine Network will televise Saturday and Sunday’s game live with Nick Belmonte and Dave LaMont on the broadcast. Sunshine’s broadcast in South Florida is subject to local blackout restrictions.
The WQAM radio broadcast will be joined in progress at 8:30 p.m. on Friday on WAXY 790 AM. On Saturday, the WQAM broadcast will be on WAXY in its entirety. The Sunday WQAM broadcast will begin at 1 p.m. on 560 AM.
The Super Regional can also be heard over the radio on the student voice of the Hurricanes, WVUM 90.5 FM, and UM’s Spanish broadcast on WACC 830 AM Radio Paz. The Super Regional can also be heard via the Internet at hurricanesports.com.