Hurricanes Head To Maryland For Three-Game Series
March 23, 2006
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (www.hurricanesports.com)The 14th-ranked Miami Hurricanes will complete the second half of a six-game road swing with a three-game Atlantic Coast Conference series at Maryland this weekend. Miami, winner of its last 15 games, and the Terrapins begin their series with a 7:07 p.m. first pitch on Friday at Shipley Field in College Park.
All three games of the series will be broadcast live by the Student Voice of UM, WVUM 90.5 FM. Pat Larsen and Justin Sheinis will call all the action over the airwaves. Friday’s series opener will be televised on Comcast Sports with former Hurricane Luis “Wicho” Hernandez offering color analysis and Frank Forte call ing the play-by-play.
Miami won two games of a three-game series last season in Coral Gables in the first-ever meetings between the two schools.
UM is fresh off a 5-0 week, including a three-game sweep at Duke, its only three road victories during the 15-game winning streak. Miami’s weekday starting pitchers (Jason Santana and Ricky Orta) and its weekend rotation of Carlos Gutierrez, Manny Miguelez and Scott Maine threw a combined 35.0 innings last week and gave up just one earned run. The pereformances were a perfect example of the driving force behind the winning streak — tough pitching and defense.
The Hurricanes lead the ACC with a .973 team fielding percentage and have not allowed more than four runs in any game of the winning streak. In fact, no Miami starter has allowed more than three earned runs in any start this season. UM’s hurlers own a 2.49 staff ERA and are holding opposing batters to a .193 average at the plate. In addition to strong starting pitching, Miami’s bullpen has not blown a lead after the sixth inning this season. Closer Chris Perez is second in the ACC with six saves and setup man Danny Gil has held opponents to a team-best .156 hitting and has a 1.93 ERA. Lefty Andrew Lane has consistently lowered his ERA in his last 10 outings and Jon McLean is now healthy, providing increased depth out of the pen.
The performance of the pitching staff has allowed Miami’s somewhat young lineup to gel and mature. Junior catcher Eddy Rodriguez leads the team with a .375 average and five home runs. Freshman Yonder Alonso is hitting .361 with a team-best 37 RBI, followed by Jon Jay’s 20 RBI and eight stolen bases. Switch-hitting freshman Jemile Weeks has been hot, hitting safely in the last 13 games. Since Miami’s winning streak began, Weeks has had 10 extra-base hits (four doubles, four triples and two home runs) and tied a school record with nine assists from second base against Duke on March 19.
Maryland (9-13, 3-6) will not be intimidated by the winning streak. The Terps ended what was the nation’s longest winning streak on Wednesday, defeating James Madison 6-5, and halting the Dukes’ 16-game streak. Maryland took two games from Duke in its ACC opener before playing top-ranked Florida State tough for three games. Last week the Terps hammered North Carolina 15-8 in the series opener before losing the two late leads and the final two games of the the series.
Lefty Casey Baron (0-0, 5.40 ERA) will take the mound against Gutierrez on Friday, followed by Ben Pfinsgraff (RHP, 1-3, 7.09 ERA) dueling with Miguelez on Saturday. Southpaws Maine and John Dischert (2-1, 6.48 ERA) will face each other in Sunday’s game.
