Miami Baseball Remains No. 1 in the Polls
April 14, 2008
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CORAL GABLES, <?xml:namespace prefix=”st1″ ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags”?>Fla. – The Miami Hurricanes Baseball team remained at No. 1 in the latest USA Today/ESPN Top 25, Baseball America and National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) polls released Monday. The No. 1 ranking sets the stage for a rematch with Florida Atlantic Wednesday and a showdown with No. 2 Florida State in Tallahassee this weekend.
The Hurricanes continue to be one of three Atlantic Coast Conference teams ranked in the top four as FloridaState comes in at No. 2 and North Carolina No. 4 in the coaches and NCBWA polls. FSU is ranked third by Baseball America.
Miami also held the top spot in the Rivals.com poll. Miami stayed at No. 2 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll.
The Hurricanes are coming off a 4-1 week which saw UM sweep an Atlantic Coast Conference series on the road at No. 10 Georgia Tech. UM also won a midweek contest over FloridaGulfCoast before having its 14-game winning streak snapped by Florida Atlantic.
Junior centerfielder Blake Tekotte was named the ACC Player of the Week after hitting .600 (9-for-15) with seven runs scored, nine RBI and three home runs. In Saturday’s doubleheader, he went 7-for-10 with three home runs and eight RBI which included a career-best 4-for-4, four runs and seven RBI-performance in the second game. Tekotte also totaled 12 bases in game two becoming the first Hurricane since Jim Burt Jr. in 2002 to accomplish the feat. He also homered twice (a 2-run HR and a 3-run HR) and added an RBI triple. He collected multiple hits in all three games of the series. Tekotte has now hit safely in 19 of the last 20 games. He is hitting .390 on the season from his leadoff spot while posting 15 extra-base hits including six doubles, three triples and six home runs and 28 RBI. He owns a .506 on-base percentage.
As a team, Miami hit .402 in the Georgia Tech series putting up 47 hits in three games. UM enters the week hitting .343.
The Hurricanes travel to Boca Raton, Fla. Wednesday for a 6:30 p.m. first pitch. Sophomore RHP Michael Rudman (0-0, 6.10 ERA) will face FAU LHP Alex Pepe (0-1, 7.47 ERA).
-UM-
