No. 5 Miami Faces No. 20 Clemson In Second ACC Road Series
April 9, 2009
CORAL GABLES, Fla. —The fifth-ranked University of Miami baseball team will make just its second road trip in Atlantic Coast Conference play this weekend as the Hurricanes will take on No. 20 Clemson, April 10-12, at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. The weekend series for Miami will be the team’s fourth-straight against a Top 25 opponent, after facing No. 7 Virginia, No. 3 Georgia Tech and No. 23 Florida State the last three weeks.
The Hurricanes enter the weekend with an overall record of 24-8 and an ACC mark of 10-5. The Tigers come in 21-11 and 9-6 in league play.
Winners of six of seven weekend series this season, Miami is coming off a series win against in-state rival Florida State and a win over FAU on Tuesday. The ‘Canes clinched the series against the Seminoles with a 14-8 victory on Sunday. With the win, UM became the first team in the ACC to reach double-digit league wins. Clemson is fresh off a series win over Duke and a mid-week split with South Carolina.
Jason Hagerty has been the team’s best hitter the last few weeks, with the junior going 16-for-32 with 17 RBI in UM’s last nine games. Harold Martinez has also been swinging a hot bat, hitting three homers against FSU – including two homers and five RBI on Sunday – as well as what would prove to be the game-winning two-RBI double against FAU on Tuesday.
Chris Hernandez is coming off his best start of the season, having tied a career-high with 11 strikeouts in Saturday’s win over the Seminoles. Hernandez will return to his usual Friday start this week, while David Gutierrez will return to Saturday and Iden Nazario stays in his normal Sunday spot in the rotation.
Closer Kyle Bellamy picked up his ninth save of the season against FAU. Bellamy not only leads the league in saves, but all three of his wins have come against conference opposition while he also owns the league’s best ERA in conference play (1.12).
WEEKEND SCHEDULE
GAME 33: FRIDAY, APRIL 10, 6:30 P.M.
PROBABLE STARTERS
MIAMI – LHP Chris Hernandez (3-2, 5.80 ERA) vs. CLEMSON – LHP Casey Harman (3-2, 3.82 ERA)
RADIO: 90.5 WVUM
GAME 34: SATURDAY, APRIL 11, 6:30 P.M.
PROBABLE STARTERS
MIAMI – RHP David Gutierrez (2-3, 2.48 ERA) vs. CLEMSON – LHP Chris Dwyer (3-2, 5.21 ERA)
RADIO: 90.5 WVUM
GAME 35: SUNDAY, APRIL 12, 12 P.M.
PROBABLE STARTERS
MIAMI – LHP Iden Nazario (4-0, 5.40 ERA) vs. CLEMSON – TBA
TV: CSS
RADIO: 90.5 WVUM
CLEMSON REPORT
The Tigers are coming off their third ACC series win of the season this past weekend, beating Duke on Friday and Sunday. In the mid-week, Clemson split with in-state rival South Carolina, moving its record to 21-11 overall and 9-6 in league play.
Clemson is hitting .286 as a team while the Tigers’ pitching staff boasts the third-best ERA in the ACC at 3.65.
Ben Paulsen has been Clemson’s top hitter this season. He enters this weekend’s series leading the team in hitting (.384), doubles (11), homers (7), RBI (35), runs (29), total bases (84), slugging percentage (.672) and on-base percentage (.445). Addison Johnson (nine steals), Mike Freeman (8) and Brad Miller (7) have combined for 24 of the team’s 40 stolen bases. Freeman, who is second on the team with a .313 average, is second to only Paulsen with 28 runs scored.
Chris Dwyer (3-2, 5.21 ERA) has garnered a team-high eight starts this year and leads the staff with 38 innings pitched. Five other Clemson pitchers have started at least three games thus far, while Ryan Hinson (1-0, 3.98 ERA) has appeared in staff-high 15 games.
MIAMI vs. CLEMSON
The Hurricanes lead the all-time series with Clemson, 27-22-1. UM won all four meetings last season, sweeping the Tigers in Coral Gables (4/4-6) before winning a fourth match-up at the ACC Tournament in Jacksonville. The last time the `Canes played at Clemson, Miami took two-of-three in 2007.
AFTER CLEMSON
After this weekend’s series in Clemson, Miami will return to Alex Rodriguez Park on Tuesday, April 14 to face FAU in the final game of a three-game season series between the Hurricanes and the Owls. UM will then head back out on the road when it travels to Chapel Hill, N.C. to face UNC, April 17-19.
`CANES IN TOP 10 IN ALL FIVE MAJOR POLLS
After taking two-of-three from No. 23 Florida State over the weekend, the University of Miami baseball team moved back into the Top 5 in two polls, and is now ranked in the Top 10 in all five major college baseball polls. Both the USA TODAY/ESPN Coaches Poll and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll have UM at No. 5 this week, while Rivals.com has Miami at No. 9 and both Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball put the `Canes at No. 10 this week.
HAGERTY’S HOT STREAK
In UM’s last nine games dating back the March 25th contest against FAU in Boca Raton, Jason Hagerty has easily been the team’s top hitter as of late. Over that span, Hagerty is hitting .500 (16-for-32) with five doubles, two homers, 17 RBI, 12 runs scored and eight walks. Hagerty is also slugging an impressive .906 in his last nine games and has a .595 on-base percentage over that span. Heading into that FAU game on March 25, Hagerty was hitting .254 on the year. Heading into this weekend’s series, he is now second on the team with a .333 average.
COMEBACK CANES
Seventeen of UM’s 23 wins this season have been come-from-behind victories. Miami also has three wins in walk-off fashion, with Jason Hagerty hitting two walk-off homers (3/6 vs. NC State, 3/15 vs. Duke) and Scott Lawson recording a walk-off double (3/13 vs. Duke).
WALK THIS WAY
Miami has walked an impressive 167 times already through the season’s first 32 games (5.2 walks per contest). Scott Lawson leads the ACC with 27 walks while Jason Hagerty ranks in a tie for second with 26. Chris Herrmann is third on the team with 20 free passes. With UM hitting .301 as a team, in addition to drawing 167 free passes, three regulars have an on-base percentage of .400 or higher. Jason Hagerty leads the team with a .492 on-base percentage, while Scott Lawson is second with a .480 OB%. Hagerty’s 26 walks in the season’s first 32 games this season is already five more than he had in his first two years at UM (21 in 76 career games).
