Hurricanes Conclude Regular Season By Hosting Duke
May 17, 2007
HURRICANES CONCLUDE REGULAR SEASON BY HOSTING DUKE
Miami (32-20, 14-13 ACC) concludes its regular season by hosting Duke (29-22, 8-19 ACC) at Mark Light Field. Game times are 7 p.m., 7 p.m. and 1 p.m., Thursday, Friday and Saturday. 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. WQAM will carry the game on Saturday. Fans can watch all three games of the series through webcast on ACC Select.
ABOUT THE MIAMI HURRICANES
Miami is coming off a pivotal series win on the road at Wake Forest. After winning the series opener, 9-8, in 14 innings, UM received a strong pitching performance from Enrique Garcia in the series finale to win its fifth ACC series. The Hurricanes are looking to clinch a spot in the ACC Tournament. Miami needs to win one game in the Duke series to do so. Miami is currently tied for sixth place in the ACC standings with NC State. The Wolfpack won the series in Coral Gables bumping UM to the seventh spot.
Miami has won six of their last seven games. Senior second baseman Roger Tomas hit .462 (6-for-13) in the Wake Forest series while sophomore center fielder Blake Tekotte hit .429 (6-for-14). Sophomore first baseman Yonder Alonso hit his ACC leading 17th home run and 63rd RBI against the Demon Deacons. He also leads the conference in walks (54) and ranks second in slugging percentage (.697).
Miami’s starting rotation of LHP Scott Maine, LHP Eric Erickson and RHP Enrique Garcia tossed 23 innings and allowed two earned runs against the Demon Deacons. Maine one-hit Wake Forest through six innings, while Erickson and Garcia each picked up wins. Garcia struck out nine in a complete-game performance to clinch the series for the Hurricanes. The three are ranked in the top 20 in individual pitching in the ACC with Erickson ranking second with a 1.93 ERA. Maine, Erickson and Garcia make up the only rotation in the conference that ranks in the top 10 when it comes to individual pitching in league games. The three each have conference ERAs under 3.00. Erickson is second in ACC games with a 2.05 ERA followed by Maine is ranks in the ACC with a 2.53 ERA. Garcia is eighth with a 2.90 ERA in league games.
ABOUT THE DUKE BLUE DEVILS
Duke is enjoying one of its best seasons on the diamond. The Blue Devils are 29-22 overall coming off a series win over Virginia Tech. The 29 wins ranked seventh all-time on the Blue Devil all-time season-win total. Duke hits .304 as a team while the pitching staff has a 4.29 ERA. RHP Tony Bajoczky is 9-2 with a 2.92 ERA. He recorded wins over No. 1 Florida State, No. 3 Virginia and No. 2 North Carolina in consecutive weekends. Outfielder Jimmy Gallagher hits a team-best .369 with 73 hits, 20 doubles, six home runs and 43 RBI. First baseman Nate Freiman has a team-high 74 hits and seven home runs while hitting .363 with 46 RBI.Duke will start LHP Jonathan Anderson (3-3, 2.49 ERA), Bajoczky and RHP Alex Hassan (2-5, 5.19 ERA) in that order.
THE MIAMI-DUKE SERIES
Miami leads the all-time series with the Blue Devils, 11-2, winning 11 straight meetings in the series. The Hurricanes swept the series in Durham last season, 3-0, 4-3 and 7-1.
HONORING ITS SENIORS
Miami will recognize five seniors before the start of Friday night’s game on senior day. Infielder Roger Tomas, catcher Richard O’Brien, third baseman Gus Menendez, right-handed pitcher Danny Gil and first baseman Chris Petralli will be recognized before the game.
