Hurricanes Prepare To Take On Rutgers
March 14, 2002
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University of Miami Hurricanes (10-9)#17 NCBWA, #19 Baseball Weekly/ESPN, #23 Baseball America and #24 Collegiate Baseball
vs.
Rutgers University Scarlet Knights (6-3)#33 Baseball Weekly/ESPN
Friday: 7 p.m. – WVUM 90.5 FM
Saturday: 7 p.m. – Fox Sports Net Florida WVUM 90.5 FM
Sunday: 1 p.m. – WVUM 90.5 FM
Game #20-22: March 15-17, 2002
Mark Light Stadium, Coral Gables, Fla.
HURRICANES HOST RUTGERS FOR THREE-GAME SERIES — Miami and Rutgers have met 38 times since the 1967 season with the Hurricanes leading 31-7, including a 12-4 mark during the Jim Morris era. Rutgers took two of three games from Miami in 2001, but the Hurricanes have won seven of the last 10 overall.2001 Game No. 1 – Rutgers won 6-4 after Vince Vazquez allowed four earned runs in the top of the ninth to erase a possible save. The Hurricanes scord twice in the bottom of the ninth.
2001 Game No. 2 – Miami tied the series with a 13-2 win. Kiki Bengochea out-shined RU’s Bobby Brownlie for the win. UM hit Brownlie for seven runs (four earned) on 10 hits in 4.2 innings pitched.2001 Game No. 3 – RU pulled off the series victory 9-6 after UM committs a season-high six errors. Just two of RU’s nine runs are earned.
MIAMI VS. THE BIG EAST — The Hurricanes hold a 79-16 record against schools currently in the BIG EAST baseball conference, including a 23-6 mark during the Jim Morris era. Miami plays baseball as a Division I independent, but is a member of the BIG EAST in all other varsity sports.
THREE PLAYERS WITH DOUBLE-FIGURE HIT STREAKS — Three UM batters enter the Rutgers series riding double-digit hitting streaks, including Matt Dryer (15), Kevin Howard (14) and Danny Matienzo (13). Dryer, Matienzo and Howard are all riding career-long streaks.
RODRIGUEZ CLIMBING STOLEN BASE CHART — With his stolen base in game No. 1 vs. South Florida, senior Javy Rodriguez remained in fourth-place with 111 career steals. Rodriguez, who led the nation last season with 66 steals and has 13 in 2002.
Mike Fiore, who was in fourth-place, was on-hand to watch Rodriguez record the stolen base in UM’s 5-3 win at Cal State Fullerton on March 2 that moved him out of the fourth-place tie. 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 on Feb. 22, 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.
RODRIGUEZ RANKS THIRD ON CAREER HITS LIST —Javy Rodriguez upped his career hit total to 256 with two hits vs. Ball State. The figure keeps him in third place all-time at Miami, 15 behind No. 2 Doug Shields (271, 1981-84). His two hits in game No. 3 vs. South Florida moved him ahead of Randy Guerra (252, 1976-79) and Bobby Hill (253, 1997-99) to third place. Mike Fiore is the school’s all-time hits leader with 341 from 1985-88).
BALL STATE’S BRYAN BULLINGTON LEADS CARDINALS OVER MIAMI 12-4 — Ball State starter Bryan Bullington went 8.0 innings with a career-high 13 strikeouts in leading the Cardinals to a 12-4 win over UM. Miami is now 154-36 in first-time meetings. The loss brings UM’s record against the MAC to 51-7 all-time. Javy Rodriguez’ lead-off double was the lone extra base hit for UM in nine total hits.
SOUTH FLORIDA GRABS SERIES AT MIAMI — The Hurricanes were plagued with costly errors over the first two games of the series and fell in both contests, 7-6, and 13-7. UM totaled 12 errors in each of the first two losses, including a season-high seven in game No. 2. Miami picked up a win in game No. 3, 8-5, to avoid a home sweep. Jim Burt hit his second grand slam of the season to propel UM to victory in game No. 3.
Series Notes
Miami now leads the all-time series with USF 74-29 since the 1967 season. Additionally, Head Coach Jim Morris has an overall record of 19-6 against the Bulls, while at Miami (1994-present) and at Georgia Tech (1982-93). While at Miami, Morris’ UM clubs have gone 15-5 against the Bulls. Of the 12 baseball playing schools in Conference USA, Miami has faced six of them forging a 91-40 record. The Hurricanes have faced South Florida (103), Tulane (17), East Carolina (5), Cincinnati (3), Memphis (2) and Houston (1). Miami has never played Charlotte, Louisville, St. Louis, Southern Mississippi, Texas Christian and UAB.The home series loss to USF was just the fourth for Miami over the last 62 home three-game series. Javy Rodriguez’ two hits in game No. 3 jumped him to No. 3 all-time at Miami with 254 career hits. George Huguet earned his 17th career save in game No. 3.
HURRICANES TIE MARLINS, 5-5, IN RAIN-SHORTENED GAME — Despite playing just three innings in a rain-shortened game, the Miami Hurricanes pulled off the 5-5 tie with the Florida Marlins in an exhibition game at Mark Light Stadium on March 6.
Trailing 5-0 going into the bottom of the third, Miami tied the score with five runs on five hits and one error. With the Marlins Beninto Baez on the mound, Haas Pratt led off with a single towards second base. Matt Barket followed with a walk. The bases were then loaded on Danny Figueroa’s bloop single to shallow centerfield. The Hurricanes first two runs came in on Joey Hooft’s two-RBI single to left field, scoring Pratt and Barket. Figueroa and Hooft each stole third and second, respectively, before Paco Figueroa walked to re-load the bases.
Baez was replaced with longtime Marlin Brian Edmondson, who allowed Greg Dini to hit a sacrifice fly RBI to right field scoring Danny Figueroa. Brad Safchik tied the score on the next at bat when he hit a grounder past the shortstop to score Hooft from third.
It was following the Hurricanes five-run third inning that the weather forced the game to a halt.
The Hurricanes started freshman Vince Bongiovanni, who allowed three earned runs in the first inning, but also struck out three Marlins, including Preston Wilson. Bongiovanni held the Marlins scoreless in the second and finished with three hits, three earned runs, one walk and three strikeouts. He also hit two batters and had one wild pitch.
Fellow freshman Brandon Camardese handled the top of the third inning, allowing three hits, two earned runs, one walk and one strikeout.
MIAMI GOES 1-2 AT THE KIA BASEBALL BASH — The Hurricanes finished with a 1-2 record at the Kia Baseball Bash at Goodwin Field on the campus of Cal State Fullerton. Houston won the tournament with a 3-0 record, ahead of Miami, Cal State Fullerton and Southern California, who each went 1-2.
Two runs or less decided all three games at the Bash. The Hurricanes led the field with a .290 team batting average, while placing third with a 5.04 ERA and fourth with a .943 fielding percentage. Kevin Howard tied for third overall with a .385 batting average, while Kevin Mannix and Danny Matienzo tied for eighth with a .333 batting average. Dan Touchet tied for the top spot with his 0.00 ERA, followed Kiki Bengochea (#3, 1.80 ERA), T.J. Prunty (#6, 3.00 ERA) and Shawn Valdes-Fauli (#10, 4.91 ERA). Additionally, Howard tied for the top spot with five hits, Matt Dryer tied for the lead with six RBI and two home runs and was second with 10 total bases, Javy Rodriguez had the most triples (2) and total bases (11).
Houston’s Stuart Musslewhite was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, while UH reliever Nathan Mitchell and Cal State Fullerton starter Jordan DeJong were Co-Most Outstandwin 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 Notes
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.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 Notes
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).
