Hurricanes Take On North Florida In Regular-Season Home Finale Tuesday
May 15, 2006
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CORAL GABLES, Fla. (www.hurricanesports.com) – Miami will finish its regular-season home slate against Division I newcomer North Florida Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Mark Light Field. The Hurricanes (34-17 overall, 16-11 Atlantic Coast Conference Coastal Division) and Ospreys (34-21 overall, 20-10 Atlantic Sun) will be meeting for the first time in 14-plus years.
Fans can turn their radio dials to the Student Voice of UM, WVUM 90.5 FM to hear all the action from The Light. The game will also be televised by Comcast Sports Southeast, with Frank Forte and Wicho Hernandez calling the play-by-play and providing color analysis.
UM is coming off a series win against Wake Forest last weekend, beating the Demon Deacons last Friday on a combined one-hitter from Scott Maine and Jon McLean, and winning Saturday in the 10th inning, 11-10. The Hurricanes had their seven-game winning streak snapped on Sunday, but are 8-2 in their last 10 games, including a 5-1 record in May.
Senior lefty Andrew Lane (1-0, 3.32 ERA), who is tied for eighth on Miami’s all-time appearances list with 88, will be making his first career start on Tuesday. The game will be his final regular-season home game at Mark Light Field and could be his last game there, barring an NCAA Regional or Super Regional bid.
Miami received several big performances last week from its freshman class. Jemile Weeks led the team with a .615 average in the Wake Forest series and tied a career high with four hits in Sunday’s loss, including two doubles and a triple. Dennis Raben went 4-for-5 in Saturday’s win, with a double, home run and career-high four RBI. Yonder Alonso knocked in the game-winning run in the 10th inning of UM’s 11-10 win on Saturday and Blake Tekotte came off the bench to go 2-for-2 with a double, triple and three RBI in the 13-1 series-opening win against the Demon Deacons.
The Hurricanes’ veteran hitters have been stepping up as well, led by junior third baseman Danny Valencia. Valencia is riding a career-high 12-game hitting streak and has knocked in 10 runs in his last five games. Shortstop Roger Tomas and catcher Eddy Rodriguez are riding nine- and eight-game hitting streaks, respectively. Rodriguez leads the team with a .352 average and is closely followed by Jon Jay (.347), who leads the team in runs (63), walks (31), hit by pitch (19), on-base percentage (.484) and stolen bases (23).
UNF, who is currently second in the Atlantic Sun Conference, will be playing its final game of the season. The Ospreys cannot participate in any postseason or conference tournaments as a condition of making the jump to the Division I level. Division II national runner-ups a year ago, the Ospreys are looking to add Miami to the list of perennial giants the team has beaten this season. Florida and LSU are two of the more notable victims on UNF’s hit list. The team also swept Central Florida in a three-game series and posted series wins against Stetson and Florida Atlantic.
Chairback tickets can be purchased for $9 apiece, $7 for adult general admission and $5 for youth and seniors. Tickets are still available and can be purchased by calling 1-800-GO-CANES.
