UM Squares off with 17th-ranked FAU Wednesday Night
April 1, 2003
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (hurricanesports.com) — Miami’s seventh-ranked baseball team hosts its second straight ranked team on Wednesday, April 2, as 17th-ranked Florida Atlantic visits Mark Light Field for a 7 p.m. showdown.
The 23-4 Hurricanes moved up to No. 7 in the Collegiate Baseball poll and No. 9 in both the Baseball America poll and the Sports Weekly/ESPN Coaches poll after sweeping then-No. 2 Georgia Tech. Florida Atlantic checks in at No. 17 in Baseball America and at No. 25 in Collegiate Baseball.
Florida Atlantic is 27-7 on the season and 12-3 in the Atlantic Sun conference. The Owls have won six straight games after their weekend sweep of Samford in Boca Raton. FAU and Miami have had three common opponents in 2003. The Owls are 2-2 against Florida International and own a 9-8 win over Rutgers and a 15-6 victory over Harvard.
The Owls will send their right-handed ace Danny Core to the hill on Wednesday. Core is 5-1 on the season with a 1.31 ERA in 48 innings of work, including one complete game. He is second on the team in strikeouts with 51, while only walking seven batters all season. Opponents are hitting a microscopic .176 against him. The FAU pitching staff boasts a 3.16 ERA and is holding opponents to a .238 batting average.
Miami will counter with Ryan Dixon (0-0) on the mound. Dixon has a 7.94 ERA average in 17 innings of work this season. He has made three starts this season, while turning in the best performance of his career against South Florida on March 11 with career-highs of 5.2 innings and five strikeouts.
At the plate, Florida Atlantic is led by Jeff Fiorentino with a .398 batting average. Fiorentino also leads the team in home runs with 10 and is second in RBIs with 29. Matt Pali is second among the Owls’ regulars with a .364 average. Rusty Brown leads the team in RBI with 34 and doubles with 10. He is third on the team in average at .356. As a team, FAU is hitting .316.
Ryan Braun, who was named the NCBWA National Hitter of the Week on Tuesday, April 1, leads the Miami offensive attack with a .390 average. Along with batting average, Braun also tops the charts in home runs (10), RBI (34), hits (41), slugging percentage (.712) and on-base percentage (.488). Catcher Erick San Pedro’s 10-game hitting streak has boosted his average almost 200 points, checking in at .382.
Tickets are $9 for chairbacks and $7 for general admission. Youth (17 and under) and seniors are $5. For more ticket information, call the Miami ticket office at 1-800-GO-CANES>
The Hurricanes will then face off with Oral Roberts in a three-game series over the weekend. Friday’s game is set for the usual 7 p.m. first pitch, but Saturday’s game has been moved up to 5 p.m., while Sunday’s game will start at 1 p.m. Oral Roberts advanced to the championship game of the Wichita Regional last season, knocking off host Wichita State twice, before falling to Arkansas.
