No. 3 Hurricanes Travel To Charlottesville For Pivotal ACC Series With Virginia
May 12, 2005
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The third-ranked Miami Hurricanes (36-11-1 overall, 17-6-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) begin a long road stretch with three games at Virginia (32-15, 10-12 ACC). Miami and Virginia begin their series Friday, May 13 at 7 p.m. at Davenport Field at the UVa Baseball Stadium in Charlottesville. The series continues Saturday at 7 p.m. and concludes Sunday with a noon first pitch.
All three games will be broadcast over the airwaves by the Student Voice of UM, WVUM (90.5 FM). Bryan Stubits will call the color and play-by-play. Saturday’s game will be televised on Comcast Sports Southeast, with Wicho Hernandez providing color commentary and Frank Forte calling the play-by-play.
Friday’s game is the first of what could be many on the road for Miami. The Hurricanes follow their series with Virginia with a trip to Clemson (May 19-21) and head straight for the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville for the ACC Tournament (May 24-29). How well the team plays over the next three weeks will play a large part in determining whether or not Coral Gables will be hosting an NCAA Regional in June.
Although increased road games in the 2005 schedule were a topic of discussion in the preseason, the Hurricanes have grown accustomed to life on the road. Miami is currently enjoying its third-longest undefeated streak on the road, going 7-01 over its last eight games away from home. The Hurricanes have outscored their opponents 101-43 in those games and are hitting .358 with a team on-base percentage of .451. UM will need to take the momentum from its sweep of Jacksonville last week and continue its road success at Davenport Field, where the Cavaliers are 26-3 this season.
The `Hoos are coming off a week of rest for exams and haven’t played since defeating Richmond, 11-0, on May 3. UVA has won its last nine games at home and haven’t given up more than four runs in a game during that home streak,
Virginia’s ACC record is hardly indicative of its talent. UVA swept Georgia Tech earlier this season and played North Carolina into extra innings in two of three games at Chapel Hill. The Cavaliers rely on their eighth-ranked pitching staff (2.91 ERA) and a defense that has posted a .976 fielding percentage (seventh in NCAA) and has turned 59 double plays (third in NCAA).
It seems that the big numbers Miami has put up on offense and the little numbers Virginia’s defense has allowed will not translate into intimidation factors. Miami responded well the first time it faced pitching as highly regarded as Virginia’s, hanging 42 runs on the NCAA’s then-no.1 staff, North Carolina, April 15-17. The Cavaliers were equally impressive against one of the nation’s top-hitting teams, Georgia Tech, April 22-24. UVA held the Yellow Jackets, the NCAA’s third-best scoring team, to five runs in a three-game sweep in Charlottesville.
Cesar Carrillo (11-0, 1.47 ERA) will look to get the Hurricanes off to a quick start and extend his NCAA consecutive decisions won streak to 24 Friday night against righty Matt Avery (4-4, 4.60 ERA). Brandon Camardese (6-0, 4.99 ERA) throws against Cavalier ace Jeff Kamrath (7-3, 2.49 ERA) on Saturday and southpaws Manny Miguelez (1-0, 2.89 ERA) and Mike Ballard will go head-to-head in the series finale on Sunday.
Miami and Virginia have met 10 times in the all-time series, with the Hurricanes holding a 7-3 advantage in the series. UM took two-of-three from the Cavs in Coral Gables last season, but lost the series finale, 4-3, on April 25. Camardese gave up four hits in 6.1 innings to earn a no-decision in that loss. Carrillo was the winning pitcher in a 22-3 win on April 24 of last year, throwing five innings and giving up two earned run against Avery, who gave up eight runs (two earned) in two innings of work.
