Hurricanes Host No. 1 Florida State in ACC Three-Game Series
April 26, 2007
University of Miami athletic department officials have announced that general admission and reserved seat tickets for this weekend’s baseball series against No. 1 Florida State are sold out. If available, standing room only tickets will be sold for $5 the day of each game after the first pitch. Those tickets will give fans access to areas down the left field and right field lines.
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HURRICANES HOST NO. 1 FLORIDA STATE FOR ACC THREE-GAME SERIES
Miami (26-17, 11-10 ACC) continues its seven-game homestand by hosting No. 1 Florida State (37-6, 15-3 ACC) Friday, Saturday and Sunday in a three-game Atlantic Coast Conference series. Game times are 7 p.m., 7 p.m. and 12 p.m. 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. WKAT (1360AM) will carry all three games for WQAM while Spanish radio (WRHC 1550AM) is set to broadcast on Friday and Saturday. Fans can watch Friday night’s game through webcast on ACC Select. Games on Saturday and Sunday will be televised on SUN Sports.
ABOUT THE MIAMI HURRICANES
The Hurricanes (26-17, 11-10 ACC) are riding a season-long four-game winning streak after knocking off No. 24 Stetson, 7-3, at home on Wednesday. Junior lefty Manny Miguelez struck out a season-high seven batters and sophomore right fielder Dennis Raben homered for the sxith time in the last eight games. Sophomore first baseman Yonder Alonso blasted his 12th home run of the season.
Miami has won three of its last four ACC series. The Hurricanes are, 4-1, in their last five games. Freshman left fielder Mark Sobolewski continues to chase the freshman hitting streak record. He extended his hitting streak to 14 games with his team-high 13th double against Stetson. Miami has at least 10 hits in 12 of its last 16 games while hitting .300 as a team.
Alonso and Raben rank second and third respectively in home runs with 12 and 11. Raben has homered in five consecutive home games at Mark Light Field. He now has six home runs in his last eight games and 11 on the season. Both Sobolewski and Alonso are top RBI guys in the conference. Alonso is second with 47 RBIs averaging 1.09 per game while Sobolewski is eighth with 42 RBIs.
Miami will send the rotation of LHP Scott Maine (3-5, 3.43 ERA), RHP Enrique Garcia (4-2, 2.67 ERA) and LHP Eric Erickson (5-3, 2.29 ERA) to the mound this weekend.
ABOUT THE FLORIDA STATE SEMINOLES
Florida State (37-6, 15-3 ACC) is the top ranked team in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll. FSU is ranked No. 2 in the Baseball America, USA Today/ESPN Coaches’ and NCBWA polls. The Seminoles currently sit in first place in the ACC coming off a series win over then No. 2 North Carolina. FSU has lost single games to NC State, Duke and North Carolina in conference play.
The Seminoles lead the nation in hitting at a .364 team average. FSU has hit .334 in conference. Second baseman Tony Thomas Jr. is hitting an ACC-best .453 with a league-high 82 hits. He has 24 doubles, six triples, seven home runs and 36 RBI. Seven different Seminoles have at least 30 RBIs. Right fielder Jack Rye hits .398 along with catcher Buster Posey. Rye has a team-high 46 RBI. Posey ranks second on the team with 68 hits including 17 doubles for 43 RBI. The team staff boasts a 3.23 team ERA behind staff ace Bryan Henry, who is 10-0 with a 2.24 ERA in 12 starts. Henry averages 1.06 strikeouts per inning with 80 K’s in 76.1 innings this season. Junior RHP Ryan Strauss is 8-1 with a 2.98 ERA. Opponents hit .246 against him while the staff is holding opponents to a .231 batting average. Henry will start Friday’s series opener while Strauss is slated to start Saturday.
THE MIAMI-FLORIDA STATE SERIES
Florida State leads the all-time series with Miami, 129-113-4. However, the Hurricanes have won the last four series. FSU last took a series from the Hurricanes during the 2003 season, when the Seminoles won in Coral Gables and in Tallahassee. Miami has won eight of the last 11 meetings.
SOBOLEWSKI CHASING RECORD
Freshman left fielder Mark Sobolewski brings a 14-game hitting streak into the week as he chases the Miami freshman record for hitting streak. Fellow teammate Jemile Weeks is tied for the record with Jim Maler which stands at 16 games. Since embarking on the record in the series finale at Clemson, Sobolewski is hitting .383 with a team-high 23 hits, 14 runs scored and three home runs for 12 RBI. Miami has gone 7-3 in the ACC since then.
RABEN’S HOMERING LATELY
Sophomore right fielder Dennis Raben had four consecutive games with home runs heading into the Virginia Tech series. Raben has now homered in six of his last eight games and five consecutive home games. He homered in each game of the NC State series following up that performance with a home run against North Florida on Wednesday. He hit his 10th home run in the series finale at Virginia Tech and No. 11 came against Stetson. Last season, Raben hit just eight home runs in 42 games.
UM BASEBALL MAY BE JUST FINE
Miami is 26-17 through 43 games, which is uncharacterstic for the Hurricanes, but Miami is following a similar path to the 2006 campaign. Through 43 games in 2006, Miami was 27-16 heading into its final three ACC series. UM won eight of its last 12 games during the regular season and earned the No. 5 seed in the ACC Tournament. UM then went 5-1 in NCAA Regional/Super Regional play to advance to the College World Series.
MAINE’S ONE RUN EYE
Redshirt junior lefty Scott Maine ranks 11th in the ACC in individual pitching when it comes to league games. Maine’s ERA in conference play is 2.72 despite being only 1-3 in the ACC. In his last three starts against Georgia Tech, NC State and Virginia Tech, he has allowed a combined three earned runs in 19 innings while striking out 17 and holding opponents to 15 total hits.
AT LEAST 10 AND UM IS GOOD TO GO
Miami is 12-5 in its last 17 games and the Hurricanes have had 12 10-hit games. UM is 17-7 this season when they have at least 10 hits in a game. UM had a season-high 18 hits in the 13-3 win over Maryland.
