Hurricanes Travel to Wake Forest for Final ACC Road Series
May 11, 2007
HURRICANES TRAVEL TO WAKE FOREST FOR FINAL ACC ROAD SERIES
Miami (30-19, 12-12 ACC) heads to Wake Forest (28-22, 11-13 ACC) for its final road Atlantic Coast Conference series. Game times are 3 p.m., 1 p.m. and 1 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. Sunday’s game will be televised by CSS. Fans can watch the first two games of the series through webcast on ACC Select.
ABOUT THE MIAMI HURRICANES
The Hurricanes (30-19) are coming off a nonconference series sweep over Wright State last week. Miami hit .364 as a team and held the Raiders to a .202 batting average. Miami enters the series looking to lock up a spot in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament in two weeks. UM sits in a tie for sixth place with NC State.
Sophomore first baseman Yonder Alonso hit .667 going 6-for-9 with five runs, three doubles, two home runs and nine RBIs against Wright State. He also walked five times, slugged 1.667 and owned a .786 on-base percentage. Sophomore second baseman Jemile Weeks continued his hot hitting going 6-for-12 against the Raiders. Weeks drove in five runs, scored three runs, doubled twice and hit the game-winning home run in the series opener . Sophomore center fielder Blake Tekotte and freshman left fielder Mark Sobolewski each had five hits. Sobolewski extended his hitting streak to 20 games. Tekotte hit .500 (5-for-10) with a double, triple, home run and four runs scored. He and Alonso each fell a hit shy of hitting for the cycle in games this weekend . All three Miami starting pitchers registered a win in a weekend series for only the second time this season. The rotation of LHP Scott Maine, RHP Enrique Garcia and LHP Eric Erickson struck out 22 in 20 innings, limited the Raiders to 14 hits and allowed only two earned runs. Maine struck out a career-high 12 in eight strong innings on Friday night. Miam’s pitching staff posted a 2.33 ERA, struck out 32 in 27 innings and held Wright State to a .202 batting average.
On the season, Alonso leads the team hitting .371 with a team-high and ACC-best 16 home runs and 60 RBIs. He has four home runs in the last six games. Sobolewski ranks second with a .351 batting clip with a team-high 71 hits.
Miami’s pitching rotation of LHP Scott Maine, LHP Eric Erickson and RHP Enrique Garcia has been solid. The three are ranked in the top 20 in individual pitching in the ACC with Erickson ranking second with a 2.03 ERA. Maine, Erickson and Garcia also is one of only two rotations in the conference that ranks in the top 12 when it comes to individual pitching. The three each have conference ERAs under 3.35.
ABOUT THE WAKE FOREST DEMON DEACONS
Wake Forest (28-22, 11-13 ACC) took last weekend off to finish up with exams. The Demon Deacons last played at UNC Greensboro on May 2 winning over the Spartans, 6-5. Wake Forest enters the series riding a six-game winning streak, which includes wins over No. 22 Charlotte and a three-game ACC sweep of Duke. The Demon Deacons have scored 47 runs in their last six games on 76 hits. First baseman Allan Dykstra is tied the for the ACC lead with 16 home runs. He hits .337 with a team-high 63 hits, 47 runs, 14 doubles and 53 RBIs. Designated hitter Willy Fox hits .352 while driving in 37 runs. As a team, Wake Forest hits .278 while he pitching staff has compiled a 4.85 team ERA. Wake will send the rotation of LHP Garrett Bullock (3-1, 4.44 ERA), RHP Brad Kledzik (4-3, 4.79 ERA) and RHP Ben Hunter (5-5, 4.97 ERA) to the mound against the Hurricanes. All three picked up wins in the Duke series with Hunter striking out 10 in his fourth start.
THE MIAMI-WAKE FOREST SERIES
Miami leads the all-time series against the Demon Deacons, 12-3. UM has won five of the last seven meetings and the last two three-game series. Miami won the series in Coral Gables last season, 13-1, 11-10 in 10 innings, but fell in the series finale, 8-5. Miami won the meeting in the ACC Tournament in 2006, 4-1.
WHATS ON THE LINE
A series win against Wake Forest puts Miami in good shape to make the 2007 ACC Tournament in Jacksonville. Miami sits in a tie for sixth place with NC State and has the seventh seed heading into this weekend’s series. The Hurricanes travel to Wake Forest for the weekend, before hosting Duke next week in the regular season finale. The Demon Deacons wrap up their season at Virginia Tech next weekend. Florida State, Virginia and North Carolina have all clinched a spot in the ACC Tournament.
