May 5, 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 coaches poll, Baseball America, National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) and Collegiate Baseball polls released Monday.
The Atlantic Coast Conference continues to have the top three teams ranked in two major college baseball polls as North Carolina (No. 2 in Baseball America, NCBWA, Collegiate Baseball, USA Today/ESPN Top 25) and Florida State (No. 3 in the NCBWA and USA Today/ESPN Top25) also represent the conference.
Miami (39-5, 20-2 ACC) also held the top spot in the Rivals.com, PingBaseball, Perfect Game Crosschecker and CollegeBaseballhub.com polls.
The Hurricanes are fresh off a three-game sweep at home of Saint Mary’s (Calif.) in a nonconference series. Junior second baseman Jemile Weeks hit his 18th career triple in the series opener to become UM’s all–time leader in triples. Sophomore lefty Eric Erickson led Miami to its third shutout in its last six games in the second game of the series. Junior first baseman Yonder Alonso belted his 13th and 14th home runs of the season while junior right fielder Dennis Raben led UM’s offense hitting .538 in the series. He tied career-highs with four hits and four RBI and hit his sixth homer.
Erickson was named the ACC Pitcher of the Week. Erickson two-hit Saint Mary’s (Calif.) through seven scoreless innings in leading No. 1 Miami to its fifth shutout win of the season. After allowing a leadoff double, the southpaw retired 21 of the final 22 batters he faced including 12 straight over the final four innings he pitched. On the season, Erickson boasts a 7-0 record with a 2.83 ERA while opponents are hitting just .209 against him.
The Hurricanes return to conference play this weekend, when top-ranked Miami travels to Virginia Tech for it final road series.