2004 Miami Baseball Recap

Aug. 11, 2004

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Jim Morris’ Miami Hurricanes finished the 2004 season with a 50-13 record and their ninth trip to the College World Series in the last 11 years.

Miami completed its final year as an independent with its 21st trip to the CWS in the past 30 years. The Hurricanes finished tied for fifth in Omaha with a 1-2 record after knocking off Louisiana State, 9-5, in the opening round. UM then fell to eventual champions Cal State Fullerton, 6-3, and then South Carolina, 15-11.

UM said goodbye to five seniors and two underclassmen at the end of the season. Five of UM’s six Major League Baseball Draft selections signed professional contracts (Erick San Pedro, Adam Ricks, Jim Burt, J.D. Cockroft and Richard Giannotti).

Miami’s 2004 club proved to be one of the better offensive teams in Hurricanes’ history under the direction of hitting instructor Gino DiMare. UM’s .330 team batting average was the fourth best in school history, while the Hurricanes’ 712 hits were the ninth most all time. Miami also accounted for 136 doubles (8th most in UM history), 81 home runs (8th most in school history), 1,133 total bases (9th most in UM history), 491 RBI (9th most in school history) and a .525 slugging percentage (4th in UM history).

On the mound, the Hurricanes were solid under the tutelage of pitching coaqch J.D. Arteaga. Miami’s 3.73 ERA was the best of any UM squad since the 2000 team posted a 3.72 ERA and the fifth best in Morris’ 11 years at Miami.

Fifth-year senior Jim Burt and junior Brian Barton finished the season with .371 batting averages to lead the Hurricanes. Burt turned in his best season as a Hurricane and led the team in nearly every offensive category: slugging percentage (.678), on-base percentage (.460), runs scored (70), hits (91), RBI (73), doubles (27), home runs (14), total bases (166), hit by pitches (14), total plate appearances (293), at bats (245) and starts (63).

Freshmen Jon Jay and Roger Tomas proved to be the sparks that allowed the Hurricanes to flourish as a rash of injuries devastated the Miami roster. Jay earned freshman All-America honors after hitting .363 with 14 doubles, six home runs, 19 stolen bases and 56 RBI. Tomas replaced an injured Ryan Braun at shortstop in early April and didn’t miss a beat, hitting .339 with 10 doubles while playing excellent defensively.

Right-handed fire-baller Cesar Carrillo almost instantly became the ace of the Hurricanes pitching staff. He completed a perfect season with a 12-0 record and a 2.69 ERA in 113.2 innigs of work. He also earned two saves and struck out a team-high 91 batters. Miami was 16-0 in Carrillo’s starts and 19-0 when he appeared in a game.

Another freshman, Danny Gil, was a life-saver out of the bullpen for Miami. He spent most of the first three months of the season in a long-relief role for the Hurricanes. In late April he took over the closer’s duties and began to dominate. Gil finished the season with an 8-0 record and five saves to go along with a 3.03 ERA.

Catcher Erick San Pedro was the highest pick of the Major League Baseball Draft for the Hurricanes. The Montreal Expos selected the backstop in the second round after hitting .320 with 12 home runs and 52 RBI. The strong-armed catcher also picked off 10 runners and threw out 33 percent of base stealers.

Senior second baseman Adam Ricks finished his Miami career in 2004 with a .329 batting average and 12 home runs. He was taken in the 10th round of the draft by the Chicago White Sox.

J.D. Cockroft finished his Miami career as one of the more successful pitchers in UM history. He was 9-5 in 2004 and compiled a career record of 25-8 while posting a 3.25 career ERA in 249 innings.