Hurricanes Finish Regular Season With Crucial Series At Georgia Tech

May 17, 2006

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ATLANTA (www. Hurricanesports.com) – The University of Miami Baseball team, ranked No. 16 in this week’s USA TODAY Top 25 Coaches’ Poll, will look to end its regular season strong with a three-game series against Atlantic Coast Conference rival No. 8 Georgia Tech at Russ Chandler Stadium in Atlanta. Miami and Georgia Tech begin the series with a 7 p.m. first pitch on Thursday and continue the series with a 7 p.m. start on Friday, followed by a 1 p.m. series finale on Saturday.

All three games will be televised, with the first two games on FSN South and Saturday’s game being shown regionally on FSN Florida. Wes Durham and Randy Carroll will call Friday’s game, while Dan Bonner and Mike Hogewood will announce the final two games of the series. Fans can turn their radio dial to the Student Voice of UM, WVUM 90.5 FM to hear Doug Kroll handle the play-by-play and color analysis for the series.

The ACC and NCAA implications are heavy for both teams heading into the series. Miami (34-17 overall, 16-11 ACC) can greatly improve its chances of earning a NCAA Regional-host seed with a series win. A series win for Georgia Tech (40-13, 17-10) will most likely solidify a national seed as a NCAA Super Regional host for the Yellow Jackets. Both teams have also qualified for the eight-team ACC Tournament and are jockeying for position before the tournament begins on May 24 in Jacksonville, Fla.

UM is currently fourth in the ACC’s Coastal Division and would be seeded sixth if the ACC Tournament started today, one game behind the Yellow Jackets, who are third in the division and would be seeded fourth in the tourney. Depending on the outcome of the series, Miami could finish as high as a No. 3 or as low as No. 8 overall in the conference. Tech could potentially earn a No. 2 seed or fall to a No. 7 seed in the ACC Tournament if it is swept by the ‘Canes.

Hurricanes head coach Jim Morris is returning to play the school that gave him his first head job as a Division I coach. Morris coached the Yellow Jackets from 1982-93, compiling a 504-244-1 record and nine NCAA Tournament appearances.

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. The Hurricanes came back from deficits of 6-0 and 10-7 last Saturday to beat Wake Forest, 11-10 in 10 innings. UM lost the series finale to halt seven-game winning streak but is 8-2 in its last 10 games. Miami is hitting .354 in that 10-game stretch, averaging 9.4 runs and 12.8 hits per game.

Maine (9-2, 4.48) is coming off a career-best 11 strikeouts in a seven-inning performance against Wake Forest last week and will face Tech right-hander Blake Wood (8-3, 4.91 ERA) in Thursday’s opener. Right-hander Carlos Gutierrez (9-5, 3.63 ERA) is returning to the starting rotation after a week off to face southpaw David Duncan (7-2, 5.35 ERA) on Friday night. It is yet to be determined who will pitch for the Hurricanes against Tech lefty Ryan Turner (3-3, 5.44 ERA) in Saturday’s series finale.

Miami received several big performances last week from its freshman class. Jemile Weeks led the team with a .615 average against Wake Forest 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 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).

Georgia Tech boasts its usual lineup of offensive weapons. The Yellow Jackets are ranked among the NCAA’s top 25 in several offensive categories, including batting average (24th, .323), scoring (fifth, 9.0/game), home runs (17th, 1.17/game), doubles (13th, 2.35/game) and slugging percentage (20th, .488).