Hurricanes Preseason No. 2; Carrillo First-Team All-America
Dec. 22, 2004
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami baseball team was ranked second in Wednesday’s Collegiate Baseball Fabulous 40 Preseason Poll.
The Hurricanes garnered 496 points to top-ranked Texas’ 497 preseason points. UM is coming off of a 50-13 season in 2004, the sixth 50-win season of Head Coach Jim Morris’ tenure in Coral Gables, and its ninth trip to the College World Series in 11 year. The 2005 season will mark Miami’s first in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
“I feel very good about our team,” said Head Coach Jim Morris. “We have some experienced players back and brought in a great recruiting class (ranked seventh in the nation). We have a lot of depth on our pitching staff but not a lot of depth with our hitters. So we must stay healthy this season.”
Collegiate Baseball also announced its preseason All-America teams and the Hurricanes’ junior Cesar Carrillo was named to the first team. The right-handed junior from Chicago went 12-0 last season with a 2.69 ERA and 91 strikeouts. Miami was 19-0 in games that he pitched.
“In our rotation Cesar Carillo is our number one guy and there are some question marks after that,” Morris said. “We want to have consistency out of our starting rotation and with three experienced seniors and two talented sophomores shooting for the remaining spots in the rotation, so we should find the right mix.”
Junior 3B/SS Ryan Braun was named to the second team as a shortstop after hitting .335 with 10 home runs in an injury plagued sophomore campaign. Braun, a native of Granada Hills, Calif., hit .364 as a freshman All-America with 17 home runs and 76 RBI.
The third team features UM sophomore right-hander Danny Gil, who emerged as the Hurricanes’ closer in late April of his freshman season. Gil, a Miami native and Columbus graduate, was 8-0 last season with a 3.03 ERA and five saves, but lowered his ERA to 1.88 during his time as the closer. He was five of six in save opportunities.
Following Texas and Miami in the preseason poll was defending champion Cal State Fullerton, while Tulane was ranked fourth and LSU fifth.
Miami will open the season on Feb. 1, at Mark Light Field against cross-town rival Florida International at 7 p.m. For ticket information, visit www.hurricanesports.com or call the UM ticket office at 1-800-GO-CANES.
