Hurricane Baseball Opens ACC Play Against Virginia Tech
March 9, 2006
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CORAL GABLES, Fla. (www.hurricanesports.com) – The No. 21 Miami Hurricanes open their second season of Atlantic Coast Conference play with a 7 p.m. first pitch against Virginia Tech on Friday night at Mark Light Field. The game is the first of a three-game series, with the remaining games scheduled for 7 p.m. on Saturday and a 1 p.m. series finale on Sunday.
All three games will be broadcast on the Student Voice of UM, WVUM (90.5) FM. UM’s flagship station, WQAM 560 AM, is scheduled to broadcast Sunday’s game on its alternate station, WKAT 1360 AM. Sunday’s game will also be televised on Comcast Sports Southeast, with former Hurricane Wicho Hernandez providing color and Frank Forte calling the play-by-play.
Although the `Canes (13-6, 0-0 ACC) have played 19 games in 2006, their season really begins Friday. Every ACC game is crucial in a conference that is home to six ranked teams, including four of the nation’s top-five ranked programs in the latest ESPN/Sports Weekly Coaches poll.
UM, picked fifth by the conference’s coaches in the ACC preseason poll, is hoping to extend its current seven-game winning streak and improve on its 19-10-1 record and third-place conference finish from a year ago. The Hokies (7-4, 0-0 ACC) were picked to finish 11th in the conference and are trying to rebound from their second losing season in the last 40 years. Seven position starters return for the Hokies, who have won four of their last five games.
Miami won the only three meetings ever between the two schools with a series sweep in Virginia last year. Jon Jay and Danny Valencia led the way in the sweep with Jay hitting .667 in the series and Valencia drove in 10 runs on two doubles and two triples.
The ACC’s current win leader, sophomore Carlos Gutierrez (5-1, 1.54 ERA) will get the starting nod for Miami on Friday against Tech’s David Cross (1-1. 2.65 ERA). Gutierrez is anchoring a Hurricane pitching staff that is holding opposing batters to a .193 average and owns a collective ERA of 2.81.
Sophomore Manny Miguelez (3-1, 1.76 ERA) is coming off a career performance against Indiana, a one-hit complete game that earned him national recognition from Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. Miguelez will face fellow southpaw Ryan Kennedy (1-0, 5.06 ERA) in Saturday’s game. Junior lefty Scott Maine (2-0, 3.65 ERA) will take the hill for the Hurricanes in the series finale against Greg Fryman (2-0, 3.07 ERA).
