Hurricanes To Face USC, Fullerton, And Houston
Feb. 27, 2002
University of Miami Hurricanes (8-4)
#6 Baseball America, #9 NCBWA, #10 Baseball Weekly/ESPN and #16 Collegiate Baseball
at the Kia Baseball Bash
vs. University of Southern California Trojans (5-5)
#17 Baseball America, #20 Baseball Weekly/ESPN and #35 NCBWA
vs. Cal State Fullerton Titans (9-4)
#8 Baseball Weekly/ESPN, #11 Baseball America, #13 NCBWA and #14 Collegiate Baseball
vs. University of Houston Cougars (6-4)
#25 Baseball America, #28 Baseball Weekly/ESPN and #29 NCBWA
Weekend Broadcast: WVUM 90.5 FM
Game #13-15, March 1-3, 2002 – Goodwin Field, Cal State Fullerton
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The Kia Baseball Bash
MIAMI VS. SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA — The Hurricanes lead the all-time series with Southern California, 8-4, dating back to 1974 College World Series. Additionally, UM leads USC 5-0 in games played during the regular season. The Trojans hold a 4-3 advantage over UM at the College World Series. During the regular season, UM picked up two wins over USC at the Oklahoma tournament in 1985 and earlier swept the Trojans in a three-game series played at Mark Light Stadium in 1981. Most recently, Miami defeated USC, 4-3, at the 2002 College World Series.
MIAMI VS. THE PAC-10 — Of the nine baseball-playing schools in the Pac-10 Conference, Miami has met seven of them and have forged a 38-19 (.667) record. The Hurricanes have faced Arizona State (17 games), Southern California (12), California (8), Stanford (7), Arizona (6), UCLA (5) and Washington State (2). Miami has never played Washington or Oregon State in baseball. The Hurricanes enter the Kia Bash riding a modest two-game win streak vs. Pac-10 schools, USC and Stanford, from last season.
MIAMI VS. CAL STATE FULLERTON — Cal State Fullerton leads the all-time series with Miami, 10-5, dating back to the 1983 season, including a 6-4 advantage during the regular season. Other than the 10 regular season meetings, UM and Cal State Fullerton have met five times in College World Series action. Most recently, the Titans came to Mark Light Stadium and won all three games against the Hurricanes in 2001. Following the three-game sweep to Cal State Fullerton UM went 26-3 the remainder of the season, including a season-ending 17-game win streak. UM is 1-2 vs. the Titans at Cal State Fullerton.
MIAMI VS. THE BIG WEST — Of the nine baseball-playing schools in the Big West Conference, Miami has faced three of them forging a 14-17 (.452) record. The Hurricanes have faced Cal State Fullerton (15), Long Beach State (15) and Cal State Northridge (1). Miami has never played Sacramento State, UC Riverside, UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine, Cal Poly or Pacific. Miami enters the Kia Bash having lost four straight to the Big West Conference since the 2000 season.
MIAMI VS. HOUSTON — The Hurricanes have never played the University of Houston in baseball. Miami is 154-34 against collegiate teams in first-time meetings (no service or international teams included). This season, Miami has defeated Kansas State and Lipscomb in first-time meetings.
MIAMI VS. CONFERENCE USA — Of the 12 baseball-playing schools in Conference USA, Miami has faced five of them forging a 90-37 (.709) record. The Hurricanes have faced South Florida (100), Tulane (17), East Carolina (5), Cincinnati (3) and Memphis (2). Miami has never played Charlotte, Houston, Louisville, St. Louis, Southern Mississippi, Texas Christian and UAB. South Florida is an annual opponent of Miami’s since the 1974 season.
HURRICANES ON THE WEST COAST — Miami has played 12 all-time games in the state of California and hold an equal 6-6 mark in those contests. The Hurricanes have played two three-games series at Long Beach State going 4-2, went 1-2 1991 NCAA West Regional in Fresno and went 1-2 at a three-game series at Cal State Fullerton in 1983.
HURRICANE OFFENSE REVIVES IN SECOND SIX GAMES — After the first six games of the season, UM was 2-4 , batting .251 as a team and found its offensive production way down from previous seasons. From that point, the Hurricanes rattled off six straight wins entering the Kia Baseball Bash for an 8-4 record. Instead of batting .251, the Hurricanes are batting .337 as a team with their offense in full swing.
INDIVIDUAL BATTING AVERAGES JUMP OVER LAST SIX GAMES — The Hurricanes had several players step up and enhance their offensive statistics following the last six games as compared to the season’s first six games.
RODRIGUEZ CLIMBS INTO TOP FIVE IN STOLEN BASES — With his five stolen bases last weekend, senior Javy Rodriguez moved into a fourth-place tie with Mike Fiore (1985-88) with 109 career stolen bases. Rodriguez, who led the nation last season with 66 steals and has 11 in 2002, moved past Howie Shapiro (1976-79, 107) during the weekend. Next up for Rodriguez is Calvin James (1981-85), who had 119 career steals. The all-time record is 139 by Bobby Hill (1997-99).
Against FIU last weekend, Rodriguez led off the scoring by stealing home. It was the third successful steal at home for Rodriguez in his career. He singled, stole second, third and then home. Coincidentally, the last time he stole home was against FIU last season.
PITCHING STARTING TO TAKE SHAPE — Entering last weekend’s Homestead Challenge, Miami had a team pitching ERA of 6.30. Following the three games against FIU, Kansas State and Lipscomb, UM lowered its team ERA to 5.38. The staff was able to accomplish this decrease with a 2.67 ERA against the Homestead Challenge opponents, UM’s lowest weekend total of the young season. The Hurricane pitching and defense held FIU and Lipscomb to two runs each, both season lows, while Kansas State scored four, the previous season low.
Additionally, the three UM starters each picked up winning decisions, a first for each pitcher in 2002.
MIAMI GOES 3-0 AT THE HOMESTEAD CHALLENGE — The 2002 season marked the fifth consecutive year Miami has participated in the Homestead Challenge at the Homestead Sports Complex. Miami is now 13-1 in Homestead Challenge games dating back to 1998 after wins over FIU (6-2), Kansas State (11-4) and Lipscomb (10-2). Most notable is that the top five paid attendance games at the Homestead Sports Complex are Miami games.
The most recent Miami/FIU game drew a new-record 3,904 in paid attendance. The Miami/FIU game in 2000 drew a then-Homestead Challenge-best 3,861, while UM’s two games with FIU in 2001 drew the No. 3 (2,782) and No. 4 (2,317) attendance marks. The Hurricanes have also had three players on Homestead Challenge All-Tournament teams, including Kiki Bengochea in 2001, Kevin Howard in 2000 and Daryl Roque in 1999.
MIAMI EVENS SEASON SERIES WITH FIU WITH 6-2 VICTORY — The Hurricanes evened their season-series with FIU with a 6-2 victory in the Homestead Challenge opener at the Homestead Sports Complex. In the game, UM starter Troy Roberson earned the win after tying a career-high with 5.0 innings pitched and a career-high eight strikeouts. Relievers Shawn Valdes-Fauli and George Huguet held FIU scoreless the remaining 4.0 innings of the game. Danny Matienzo was the offensive hero of the game going 3-for-4 with two runs scored and one RBI. The RBI came off a solo home run.
Miami now leads the all-time series with FIU, 82-19, dating back to the 1973 season. The series is the third-longest on-going rivalry on the UM baseball schedule behind Florida (1940) and Florida State (1951). Miami has won 13 of the past 18 meetings with FIU, including six of the past eight. Head Coach Jim Morris is 21-9 vs. FIU since coming to Miami in 1994.
Additionally, Miami has forged an all-time record of 118-36 against teams currently in the Sun Belt Conference.
MIAMI SCORES 11-4 WIN OVER KANSAS STATE OF THE BIG 12 — Miami defeated Kansas State 11-4 in the two teams first meeting. UM starter T.J. Prunty earned his first win as a starter going a career-high 6.0 innings pitched. UM bats were swinging as the team pounded 17 hits, including seven players with multiple hits.
Miami is now 33-26 against the Big 12 Conference. Of the 12 teams in the Big 12 Conference, Miami has now played seven, including Texas (38), Texas A&M (8), Oklahoma State (7), Oklahoma (3), Baylor (1), Texas Tech (1) and Kansas State (1).
MIAMI REMAINS UNDEFEATED AGAINST THE INDEPENDENTS WITH 10-2 WIN OVER LIPSCOMB — Miami defeated Lipscomb, 10-2, with starter Kiki Bengochea earning his first win of 2002. Danny Matienzo hit his seventh home run of the season in the game, while the team had 16 hits. The win pushed UM’s record to 22-0 against Independent teams. The Hurricanes have also played New York Tech (10-0), Pace (7-0) and C.W. Post (4-0).
MIAMI SWEEPS MINNESOTA — The Hurricanes pulled of their first three-game sweep of the 2002 season with three victories over visiting Minnesota (10-4, 21-17 and 7-6). The three wins over the Golden Gophers pushed UM’s record to 14-3 since the 1981 season.
Series Highlights
Coach Morris earned his 900th D-1 victory in game No. 1. He is among 16 current D-1 head coaches to have done so.The Hurricanes had season-high numbers in each offensive category on Friday and again on Saturday. Saturday’s offense was the most by Miami since defeating Tennessee 21-13 on June 9, 2001 in the CWS.The line-up took a shuffle for the weekend with Matt Dryer playing at 3B from 1B, Javy Rodriguez moving to 2B from SS, Kevin Howard moving from 3B to SS, Haas Pratt from DH to 1B, Danny Matienzo from C to DH and Erick San Pedro at C.Danny Matienzo (5), Kevin Howard (4) and Jim Burt (3) accounted for the Hurricanes 12 home runs in the series, quadrupling the season total to 16. Matienzo had two in each of the first two games and one in the third. Howard had one in the first two games and two on Sunday, including a walk-off shot to lead off the bottom of the ninth on the first pitch. Burt had one on Friday and two on Saturday, including the season’s first grand slam.
MIAMI VS. THE BIG TEN — The Hurricanes are 97-40-5 vs. the Big Ten Conference all-time. Under Jim Morris, the Hurricanes are 23-4-1 vs. the Big Ten since 1994.
FLORIDA SNAGS TWO FROM MIAMI — Florida defeated Miami twice in Coral Gables last weekend 12-9 and 6-2. The losses to UF ended a string of 13 games since 1996 that the Gators had lost at Mark Light Stadium. The middle game of the series was rained out and will not be rescheduled. The pair of wins for UF at Miami was a first since 1956, when the Gators last swept UM at home. The Hurricanes still lead the all-time series with the Gators 107-82-1, including a 68-30 mark in Coral Gables. The Florida series is the longest on-going series on the Hurricanes’ schedule. Only Miami and Florida State have met more times (220), since the 1951 season. Since the 1994 season, Jim Morris has gone 20-16 against the Gators, including a 17-4 mark in Coral Gables. With the two losses to Florida, the Hurricanes move to 166-117-1 against SEC teams all-time. Under Jim Morris, Miami is 34-21 vs. the SEC since 1994.
MIAMI OPENS SEASON TAKING TWO OF THREE FROM TENNESSEE — Miami opened the season taking the bookend games with Tennessee at Mark Light. UM won the first game 5-4, dropped game No. 2 7-4 and won on Sunday 9-4. The 2-1 mark against Tennessee pushes UM’s record against the Volunteers to 8-5 since 1989.
Series Highlights
After a near-two-year absence due to injury Troy Roberson earned the opening day start for the Hurricanes on the mound. Roberson pitched 4.1 innings with one earned run along with five strikeouts.Kevin Mannix and Matt Dryer hit back-to-back home runs in the seventh inning of game No. 3 and added six runs in the to surge past UT.During the sixth inning of game No. 3 with bases loaded and no outs, UT’s Ryan Moffett lined-out at third baseman Kevin Howard (first out). Howard stepped on third base to force Javi Herrera out (#2) and threw to first to force out Hal Bibee (#3). It was the first triple play at Miami since a 1982 game against Lewis College. Additionally, it was just the fifth triple play ever recorded at Miami and first ever in Head Coach Jim Morris’ career.Miami holds a 38-21 overall record in season opening games. UM has not lost a season-opener at home since a 9-7 defeat to Florida on Feb. 3, 1984 (15 games).
SEVERAL HURRICANES GARNER PRESEASON ALL-AMERICA HONORS — A total of five Hurricanes received preseason All-American honors, including Javy Rodriguez, Kiki Bengochea, George Huguet, Luke DeBold and Danny Matienzo.
BASEBALL AMERICA’S COLLEGE PREVIEW RECOGNIZES MIAMI — Baseball America’s Allen Simpson rated junior RHP Kiki Bengochea No. 6 among the top 100 college prospects for the 2002 draft. Also making Simpson’s list were Kevin Howard (#23), T.J. Prunty (#56) and Javy Rodriguez (#72).
Baseball America listed the top 50 players by class, which consisted of seven Hurricanes in each of the four classes. Danny Figueroa (#32), Ryan Dixon (#34) and Rich Giannotti (#43) were among the freshmen listed. T.J. Prunty (#30) was the lone UM sophomore listed and was rated the No. 2 draft eligible sophomore. Kiki Bengochea (#6) and Kevin Howard (#22) were among the juniors and Javy Rodriguez (#6) was listed among seniors.
Miami was selected the top independent school heading into 2002, while Bengochea, Howard, Rodriguez, Prunty and Troy Roberson were the top five independent prospects. Figueroa, Dixon and Brandon Camardese were the top three independent newcomers.
