Hurricanes Head to Virginia Tech for Second to Last Conference Road Trip
April 20, 2007
HURRICANES HEAD TO VIRGINIA TECH FOR SECOND TO LAST CONFERENCE ROAD TRIP
Miami (22-17) continues Atlantic Coast Conference play by traveling to Virginia Tech for a three-game series at English Field. Game times are 7 p.m., 5 p.m. and 12 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The games will be carried by the Student Voice of UM, WVUM (90.5 FM), which can also be picked up online at www.wvum.org. Friday night’s game can be watched via the internet on ACC Select.
ABOUT THE MIAMI HURRICANES
The Hurricanes (22-17, 8-10 ACC) look to snap a two-game losing streak after falling to North Florida, 3-2, at home Wednesday. Dennis Raben and Jemile Weeks each hit home runs for Miami in the loss.Miami dropped its first Atlantic Coast Conference home series loss last weekend losing two of three games to NC State. UM dropped a heart-breaker in 13 innings Friday night, 5-3. The Hurricanes bounced back Saturday behind Enrique Garcia’s complete game performance Saturday to even the series with a 5-1 win, before falling 19-9 on Sunday. Garcia was named the ACC Pitcher of the Week after striking out a career-high 12 batters. Raben is coming off a good NC State series as well. Raben hit .438 going 7-for-16 with 7 RBI and three home runs as he helped Miami to a 2-2 week. He hit .462 in the NC State series racking up a team-high six hits. He homered in each of the NC State games and against North Florida . He now has nine home runs on the season. He extended his hitting streak to seven games and is hitting .414 (12-for-29) with the four home runs and seven RBI.Miami will send the rotation of LHP Scott Maine, RHP Enrique Garcia and LHP Eric Erickson to the mound.
ABOUT THE VIRGINIA TECH HOKIES
Virginia Tech (17-20, 4-14 ACC) fell to Florida State last weekend in Tallahassee. The Hokies cancelled Wednesday’s game due to Monday’s tragedy. The Hokies have lost six of their last seven games. Sean O’Brien leads the team hitting .340 along with 11 doubles and 22 RBI. Bryan Thomas has a team-high 33 RBI and 15 doubles. Virginia Tech hits .284 as a team. The Hokies will start RHP Adam Redd (2-3, 3.00 ERA) on Friday, RHP Greg Fryman (2-6, 8.28 ERA) and LHP Andrew Wells (2-3, 4.94 ERA).
THE UM-VIRGINIA TECH SERIES
The Hurricanes lead the all-time series, 6-0. Miami swept the series in Coral Gables last season. UM won all three games in Blacksburg during the 2005 season.
STREAKIN CANES
Miami hitters are starting to get into a groove at the plate. Freshman third baseman Mark Sobolewski brings a 10-game hitting streak into the week while sophomore right fielder Dennis Raben has hit safely in seven straight games and sophomore first baseman Yonder Alonso has a six-game hitting streak going.
GARCIA NAMED ACC PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Miami junior pitcher Enrique Garcia has been selected Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Pitcher of the Week for April 16. It is Miami’s second ACC weekly honor of the season. Garcia, who hails from Mechanicsville, Md., struck out a career-high 12 batters in his first career complete game. It was Miami’s first complete game thrown this season and first since last March. Garcia tossed eight scoreless innings, limiting NC State to three hits before surrendering two hits and one run in the ninth inning. He retired the first eight batters he faced and retired 12 of the 13 batters from the fifth to the eighth innings. The junior hurler becomes the third Hurricane pitcher to garner the league’s weekly award since Miami joined the ACC in 2005.
MORRIS TO MAKE PRESENTATION ON BEHALF OF UM COMMUNITY AT VIRGINIA TECH
Miami head baseball coach Jim Morris will present a check on behalf of the university for the Hokie Spirit and Memorial Fund prior to Friday night’s Atlantic Coast Conference series opener at Virginia Tech while Miami players will wear a black wrist band in memory of the victims from Monday’s tragedy the university.
WEEKS COMES BACK WITH A BANG
After missing 11 games due to a groin strain, Miami second baseman Jemile Weeks made the most of his first at-bat since getting injured at Virginia in the series finale. Weeks drove an 0-2 pitch – the third pitch he saw – over the wall in right center for his fourth home run of the season.
RABEN’S STREAK
Sophomore right fielder Dennis Raben extended his streak to four games with consecutive home runs. He homered in each game of the NC State series following up that performance with a home run against North Florida on Wednesday. Raben now has nine home runs on the season. He hit eight in 42 games last season.
