Hurricanes Ranked Second Nationally by Coaches
Jan. 16, 2004
Hurricanes Ranked Second Nationally by CoachesCORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami baseball team is ranked second by the Sports Weekly/ESPN Preseason Top 25 College Coaches’ Poll that was release on Friday.
The Sports Weekly/ESPN College Coaches’ Poll is selected by 40 Division I coaches representing the American Baseball Coaches Association.
Rice is ranked first with 39 first-place votes and 997 points. Hurricanes follow Rice with one first-place vote and 917 points. UM and Rice were the only teams to receive first-place votes. LSU is ranked third by the coaches with Stanford fourth and Cal State Fullerton fifth.
Miami finished fifth at the College World Series last season and rolled to a 45-17-1 overall record last season. The Hurricanes return every starting position player from a year ago in addition to four starting pitchers and the entire bullpen.
Headlining the Hurricanes’ squad is shortstop Ryan Braun (.364, 17 HR, 16 2B, 76 RBI, 13 SB), All-American left-handed pitcher J.D. Cockroft (11-3, 2.72 ERA, 94 K, 35 BB) and past All-American closer RHP George Huguet (7 SV, 2.36 ERA).
Miami returns three superb starters on the mound in Cockroft, LHP Brandon Camardese (9-2, 5.01 ERA), RHP Vince Bongiovanni (8-4, 4.00 ERA) and relief specialists in RHP Huguet and RHP Shawn Valdes-Fauli (5 SV, 5-0, 3.02 ERA).
On offense, the Hurricanes have a nice blend of power (70 home runs last season) and gap power (134 doubles) along with speed (122 stolen bases). As far as defense, Miami was second in the nation in double plays (72 in 63 games).
“In my entire coaching career (which goes back to 1975 as an assistant coach at Appalachian St.) I have never had an entire group of position player starters and pitchers back like this,” said Morris, entering his 11th year with the Hurricanes.
“It is very unusual. We had a very young ball club last year with only a few being draft eligible. When you consider all these ball players coming back coupled with a pretty good recruiting class that we brought in (15th in the nation), we should have a fine ball club this season.”
The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association also released its preseason poll earlier this week with the Hurricanes holding a No. 5 ranking.
The Hurricanes open the season with the annual Alumni game on Saturday, Feb. 7, at 7 p.m. at Mark Light Field and then open the season at home on Friday, Feb. 13, at 7 p.m. with the Florida Gators. For more information on the Hurricanes log onto www.hurricanesports.com . For ticket information you can go to the website or call the ticket office at 1-800-GO CANES.
