Hurricanes Begin Late-Season Push Against Demon Deacons

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May 10, 2006

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (www.hurricanesports.com) – The postseason might as well begin right now for the Miami baseball team given what is at stake in this weekend’s three-game series against Wake Forest at Mark Light Field. How the series plays out will be a determining factor in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament seeding and could help or hinder the Hurricanes’ chances at earning a top-16 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Miami (32-16 overall, 14-10 ACC Coastal), is ranked No. 20 in the latest ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ Poll and has an RPI of 15, according to Boyd’s World rankings. If the talent-rich ACC Tournament were to start today, the Hurricanes, fourth in their division, would be the No. 7 seed. A strong finish against Wake Forest (31-15, 15-8 ACC Atlantic), North Florida (May 16) and No. 9 Georgia Tech (May 18-20) could catapult the Hurricanes as high as a No. 3 seed in the ACC Tourney and would drastically improve Miami’s chances of earning a No. 1 seed in an NCAA Regional.

It all starts with an 8 p.m. first pitch on Friday at Mark Light Field. Sophomore lefty Scott Maine (8-2, 4.82 ERA) will make his second-consecutive Friday start and will throw against Wake’s Brad Kledzik (5-2, 3.53).

Miami has won five straight, including a three-game sweep of Wright State last week at home. The Hurricanes batted .390 as a team and outscored the Raiders 33-4 in the series. The Demon Deacons, ranked 19th in the Collegiate Baseball poll, are coming off a two-game split with Florida State last week. While the third game of the series was rained out, the teams made up for it by playing the longest ACC game in history, a 20-inning marathon that ended in a 4-3 loss for the Demon Deacons last Saturday. The Demon Deacons play at High Point on Wednesday afternoon before heading to Coral Gables.

This weekend will feature two of the best closers and quite possibly the top-two freshman first basemen in college baseball. UM closer Chris Perez’s (2-1, 1.75 ERA) 10 saves rank fourth in the ACC and are the most by a Hurricane since George Huguet saved 14 games in 2001. Wake Forest’s Ben Hunter (1-1, 1.37 ERA) leads the ACC with 12 saves and has a strikeout-to-walk ratio of nearly five-to-one. Both are candidates for the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Award, given to the country’s best closer.

Miami freshman RBI machine Yonder Alonso will meet his counterpart at first base, Wake’s 6-5 first-base phenom, Allan Dykstra. Alonso, who ranks second among NCAA freshman in RBI per game (59, 1.23/game), is tied for the team lead with eight home runs, leads the team with 16 doubles and is hitting .320 with 95 total bases and eight sacrifice flys. Dykstra is among the country’s home run leaders with 14 and is hitting .344 with 16 doubles and 54 RBI. He is also tied for second in the NCAA with 46 walks and has an ACC-leading on-base percentage of .500.

Alonso and Dykstra are complemented by a pair of preseason All-America teammates. Center fielder Jon Jay ranks 22nd in the NCAA with 60 runs scored and leads UM with a .350 average, 22 stolen bases, 27 walks and a .483 on-base percentage. Demon Deacon third baseman Matt Antonelli is hitting .341 with 11 home runs, 36 RBI and 16 doubles.

Seniors Andrew Lane, Marcelo Albir, Jon McLean and Tommy Giles will be honored on UM’s Senior Night on Saturday at 7 p.m. Miami southpaw Manny Miguelez (6-4, 3.69 ERA) is slated to start against lefty Eric Niesen (3-0, 3.30 ERA). Ricky Orta (2-1, 5.51 ERA) will start Sunday’s 1 p.m. game against Justin Keadle (4-2, 4.37).

All three games can be heard on the Student Voice of UM, WVUM 90.5 FM. UM’s flagship station, WQAM, will air the games on WKAT 1360 AM, with Joe Zagacki and Brian London providing analysis and play-by-play. Friday’s game can also be heard in Spanish on WWFE 670 AM.

Tickets are still available and can be purchased by calling the Hurricane ticket office at 1-800-GO-CANES.