Rutgers Visits `The Light' for a Three-Game Series
March 13, 2003
The Miami baseball team hosts Rutgers for a three-game series starting Friday, March 14 at 7 p.m. at Mark Light Field.
Saturday’s game is also set for a 7 p.m. first pitch and will be televised live by Fox Sports Net Florida. Miami’s flagship station WQAM (560 AM) will also broadcast the Saturday game. The series finale will begin at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
Friday’s game will be carried by UM’s Spanish broadcasting partner WMNA (1210 AM). WVUM will once again carry all three games of the series.
The Hurricanes are 14-3 on the season after taking both games from 29th-ranked South Florida on Tuesday and Wednesday. UM has now won seven straight games headed into the Rutgers series.
Rutgers is 1-7 on the season but is coming off of a tight series at second-ranked Georgia Tech last weekend. The Scarlet Knights dropped the opener of the Tech series 11-6, but gave the Yellow Jackets a scare in games two and three, losing 6-5 in 10 innings and 7-5, respectively.
J.D. Cockroft has settled into the Friday starting slot and continued to be effective, improving his record to 3-0 with a 1.76 ERA. The left-hander is second on the team in appearances and innings pitched. Vince Bongiovanni has been rock solid in the No. 2 spot on Saturday with a 3-1 record and a 2.08 ERA. His 30.1 innings and 30 strikeouts lead the team. Brandon Camardese will make his fifth start of the season on Sunday. He is 3-0 with a 2.91 ERA in 21.2 innings of work.
Rutgers will send Jack Egbert to the hill in the series opener. He is 0-2 with a 7.53 ERA. Shaun Parker (0-0, 5.40) will get the call on Saturday for the Scarlet Knights, while Tom Malafronte (1-0, 4.91 ERA) will go to the mound on Sunday.
Miami leads the all-time series with Rutgers 32-9, but the Scarlet Knights have won the past two series from the Hurricanes. RU took two-of-three games from UM last season, winning the Friday game, 4-3, and the Sunday game, 9-5, with Miami winning game two, 8-3. Rutgers took also won two-of-three games in 2001. Miami Head Coach Jim Morris is 11-6 against the Scarlet Knights during his tenure at Miami.
Rutgers is coached by Fred Hill, who is in his 20th year with the team and his 27th overall season as a head coach. He is 618-364-3 at Rutgers and is coming off of a 35-22 record in 2002 and a fourth-place finish in the BIG EAST conference.
