No. 20 Hurricanes Will See Familiar Faces Against Wright State

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May 3, 2006

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Plenty of former University of Miami baseball players will be in attendance for Friday’s 7 p.m. series opener between the No. 20 Hurricanes and Wright State at Mark Light Field. But it won’t be for an alumni reunion.

Miami head coach Jim Morris will take on a Wright State coaching staff full of ex-Hurricanes, including head coach Rob Cooper (Miami, ’94) and assistant coaches Bruce Thompson (Miami, ’99) and Greg Lovelady (Miami, `01). Cooper played in the 1993 season for Miami and was a volunteer assistant during Morris’ first two years in Coral Gables. Thompson was a four-year letterwinner (1992-95) at Miami, and Lovelady was catcher on the Hurricanes’ 1999 and 2001 National Championship teams before serving as a volunteer assistant from 2002-04.

The Hurricanes (29-16 overall, 14-10 ACC) and Raiders (24-19 overall, 13-11 Horizon) will be meeting for the first time ever on Friday, and play again on Saturday at 7 p.m. before concluding the series on Sunday at noon. All three games can be heard on the Student Voice of UM, WVUM 90.5 FM.

UM is riding the momentum of its fifth road win of the season against No. 15 N.C. State last week. Miami capped the series with its biggest comeback of the season, battling back from a 6-0 deficit to come away with a 12-10 win in the series finale. The Hurricanes also closed out an extremely tough April schedule composed completely of top 20 teams that currently sport a combined record of 178-57 (.757).

The Raiders have won three straight, including a doubleheader sweep of Dayton Tuesday night. Although Wright State will be the first unranked opponent Miami has faced since March 26, the Hurricanes can not afford to rest this week. WSU has defeated No. 21 TCU, won at No. 15 Notre Dame, in addition to working and has a coaching staff that knows the ins and outs of the Miami program.

This weekend’s games will feature two of the country’s premiere closers in Miami junior Chris Perez (2-1, nine saves, 1.82 ERA) and Wright State’s Joe Smith (3-0, 10 saves, 0.48 ERA). Both Perez and Smith are NCBWA Stopper of the Year candidates.

Sophomore southpaw Scott Maine (7-2, 5.06 ERA) will be making his first Friday start of the season in the series opener against Robert Barrett (6-1, 2.83 ERA). Maine is 2-0 in his last three starts, all against ranked teams. Right-hander Carlos Gutierrez (8-5, 3.86 ERA) will get the starting nod on Saturday against Erich Schanz (3-2, 3.25 ERA). Lefty Manny Miguelez (5-4, 3.92 ERA) moves back into the starting rotation after a one-week hiatus to close out the series against Chris Snyder (3-5, 4.76 ERA).

Miami’s lineup produced 23 runs and 34 hits last week against N.C. State, its most productive offensive series effort since a three-game sweep against Virginia Tech March 10-12. The Hurricanes’ recent offensive surge has been led by senior right fielder Tommy Giles’ .353 average. Giles is hitting .552 with six doubles, two home runs, eight RBI and a .966 slugging percentage in his last seven games. Center fielder Jon Jay is hitting .342 and leads the team with a career-high 53 runs and 21 stolen bases. Catcher Eddy Rodriguez is batting .344 with a team-best seven home runs.

Tickets are still available for the series and can be purchased by calling 1-800-GO-CANES, or visiting www.hurricanesports.com.