Hurricanes Ranked Sixth in Collegiate Baseball Preseason Poll

Dec. 29, 2006

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami baseball team is ranked sixth nationally in the recently released Collegiate Baseball newspaper’s Fabulous 40 NCAA Division I pre-season poll.

Additionally, sophomore second baseman Jemile Weeks was named a First Team Preseason All-American and junior pitcher Scott Maine was named a Second Team Preseason All-America selection by Collegiate Baseball.

Miami heads into the 2007 season coming off a 42-24 2006 campaign (17-13 Atlantic Coast Conference) that ended with a dramatic postseason run and a fifth-place finish at the College World Series.

The Hurricanes are one of six ACC teams ranked in the top-13 of the preseason poll, joining Clemson (No. 2), North Carolina (No. 5), Virginia (No. 10), Georgia Tech (No. 11) and Florida State (No. 13).

Weeks, who has been named to the Brooks Wallace Award Watch List and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers (NCBWA) Preseason All-America Third Team, had a stellar freshman season at UM in 2006. He earned a spot on the Louisville Slugger Freshman All-America team and was a second team All-ACC pick at second base. He batted .352 in 66 games with 69 runs, six home runs and 40 RBI, and led the team with 90 hits and eight triples.

Maine, a southpaw who was also named to the Brooks Wallace Award Watch List, went 12-3 with a 4.57 ERA last fall. He led the team with 106.1 innings pitched last season and held opposing hitters to a .247 average. The junior was drafted in the 23rd round of the 2006 MLB Draft by the Colorado Rockies but optioned to return to Coral Gables for the 2007 season.

UM will hold the annual Alumni Game on Saturday, Jan. 27, before opening the season with two-straight home series against Mercer (Feb. 2-4) and 2006 NCAA participant UCLA (Feb. 9-11).