Miami Baseball Retains No. 5 National Ranking

April 5, 2004

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — The University of Miami baseball team retained its No. 5 national ranking in the latest Sports Weekly/ESPN Coaches Poll with 823 votes.

The Hurricanes, the highest ranked team in Florida, are 24-6 after winning two-of-three games at Georgia Tech. Miami travels to Tallahassee this weekend to face 10th-ranked Florida State for a three-game series beginning on Friday, April 9, at 7 p.m. on the Sunshine Network.

UM is also ranked fifth in Baseball America’s weekly poll and fourth by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers. Collegiate Baseball has the Hurricanes tabbed seventh.

Brian Barton (.413) and Jon Jay (.394) lead the Hurricanes’ offensive attack. UM is batting .326 as a team with 83 stolen bases in just 30 games. Paco Figueroa and Ryan Braun are pacing UM on the base paths with 16 and 18 stolen bases, respectively.

The Hurricanes’ pitching staff boasts a solid team ERA of 3.24 and is striking out 8.6 batters per nine innings. Closer George Huguet has seven saves and a 0.00 ERA in 16.1 innings. His seven saves gives him 38 for his career and a new Hurricanes’ record.

Texas holds down the top spot in the Sports Weekly/ESPN Coaches Poll, while Stanford is second, LSU third and Rice fourth.