Hurricanes' Baseball Plays Host To Louisville In Mid-Week Matchup
Feb. 14, 2006
The 16th-ranked University of Miami baseball team (5-3) returns to Mark Light Field for the first of 16 consecutive home dates Wednesday at 2 p.m. against the University of Louisville. It is the first-ever meeting between the two schools.
WVUM-90.5 FM, the Student Voice of the Hurricanes, will broadcast the game live.
Miami is looking to ride the momentum from a West Coast road trip that saw the Hurricanes take two games from UCLA in Los Angeles last Friday and Sunday. Louisville is coming off a 32-24 season in Conference USA last year, and opens its first season in the Big East Conference with the matchup against UM.
Junior Ricky Orta (0-0, 2.25 ERA) will take the mound for the Hurricanes against Louisville’s ace from 2005, junior B.J. Rosenberg (5-4, 4.98 ERA last year). Orta has made two appearances this season and has totaled 4.0 innings and given up five hits and one earned run with four strikeouts. He owns a career 0.82 ERA and a 2-0 record in mid-week starts (two, both in 2005).
Miami’s young team is steadily gaining experience. Four of the 15 newcomers for the `Canes have started in every game this year. Freshmen, second baseman Jemile Weeks, left fielder Blake Tekotte, first baseman Yonder Alonso, and senior right fielder Tommy Giles have accounted for 29 of the team’s 56 runs and 28 of the team’s 51 RBI. Tekotte leads the team with 10 runs scored and six stolen bases in the leadoff spot, while Weeks is hitting .379. Alonso leads the team with 12 RBI and Giles has belted a team-best three home runs, including two last weekend against UCLA.
The only other two Hurricanes to start every game this season are junior third baseman Danny Valencia, who leads Miami with a .406 average and 13 hits, and junior center fielder Jon Jay (.320, eight RBI).
The Cardinals return 22 letterwinners including seven starters and 12 pitchers from the 2005 squad. Griffin Bailey, who made 29 appearances in 2005 with a 4-1 record, two saves, a team-leading 2.59 ERA and held opponents to just .236 hitting, headlines the Louisville staff. Outfielder Boomer Whiting returns for his senior season following a junior campaign that saw him earn Second Team All-Conference USA honors after hitting .327 with 26 stolen bases and no errors in the field. Second baseman Nick Haley also returns for his senior season as one of the toughest players to strike out in the country, striking out just once every 15.5 at bats last season. Haley also hit .300 and walked a team high 32 times in 2005.
Although this is the first meeting between the `Canes and the Cardinals, many Cardinals players are familiar with Miami. Five Cardinals; junior St Thomas transfer Pete Rodriguez, freshman Andrew Salgueiro (Gulliver Prep), freshman Chris Dominguez (Gulliver Prep), sophomore Jorge Castillo (Gulliver Prep), and junior Duke transfer David Torcise (Westminster Christian) return home, all hailing from the Miami area.
