No. 13 Miami Preparing For Crucial Weekend at Boston College
April 30, 2009
CORAL GABLES, Fla. –The 13th-ranked University of Miami baseball team will open the final month of the 2009 regular season on the road this weekend when the team makes its northernmost trip of the year to battle another Atlantic Coast Conference opponent in Boston College, May 1-3.
The Hurricanes (29-15, 13-11 ACC) and Eagles (28-17, 11-11 ACC) will play the first and final games of the three-game set at BC’s home park – Shea Field – while Saturday’s contest will be played at Campanelli Stadium – home of the Brockton Rox, an independent minor league club in nearby Brockton. Game times are set for 1:30 p.m. Friday, 6 p.m. Saturday and 12 p.m. Sunday.
Chris Herrmann has been UM’s hottest hitter as of late, going 8-for-16 with team highs in RBI (6), runs (9), walks (6), slugging percentage (.750) and on-base percentage (.636) over the last five games. As he has for nearly the entire season, Scott Lawson leads the team in hitting, coming into the weekend at a .346 clip. Jason Hagerty (.315, 8 HR, 41 RBI) and Harold Martinez (.310, 7 HR, 41 RBI) are UM’s top run producers while Yasmani Grandal ranks among the best in the ACC with 12 homers thus far.
UM’s bullpen had a near-flawless series against Virginia Tech this past weekend, allowing just one earned run in a combined 12 innings of work. Closer Kyle Bellamy continued his late-inning dominance, recording two multi-inning saves in both of Miami’s wins. Bellamy, who is tied for third nationally with 12 saves this season, has allowed just five earned runs while striking out 52 in 33 2/3 innings this season.
Starters Chris Hernandez and Iden Nazario are both coming off strong starts against the Hokies. Hernandez (5-3, 5.07 ERA) allowed just one run on one hit in 6 1/3 innings while Nazario (5-2, 6.00 ERA) allowed two earned runs on three hits in five innings.
On the season, the Hurricanes have won 7-of-10 weekend series, including series wins at No. 12 Florida, at No. 7 Virginia, and home against No. 23 Florida State. This past weekend, UM took two-of-three from Virginia Tech at Alex Rodriguez Park.
With just nine regular season games remaining, Miami will play three games at home and six on the road before next month’s Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament in Durham, N.C. After this weekend’s series, Miami has one home series (Bethune Cookman; May 8-10) and one road series (at Wake Forest; May 14-16) remaining.
WEEKEND SCHEDULE
GAME 45: FRIDAY, MAY 1, 1:30 P.M.
PROBABLE STARTERS
MIAMI – LHP Chris Hernandez (5-3, 5.07 ERA) vs. BC – RHP JB MacDonald (4-5, 3.95 ERA)
RADIO: 90.5 WVUM
GAME 46: SATURDAY, MAY 2, 6 P.M.
PROBABLE STARTERS
MIAMI – RHP David Gutierrez (2-5, 4.62 ERA) vs. BC- RHP John Leonard (1-2, 7.25 ERA) RADIO: 90.5 WVUM
GAME 47: SUNDAY, MAY 3, 12 P.M.
PROBABLE STARTERS
MIAMI – LHP Iden Nazario (5-2, 6.00 ERA) vs. BC – LHP Pat Dean (4-3, 3.82 ERA)
RADIO: 90.5 WVUM
BC REPORT
The Eagles (28-17, 11-11) are coming off back-to-back series losses to No. 13 Virginia and Duke. After dropping the first two games to the Blue Devils this past weekend, Boston College salvaged game three, 7-6, in 11 innings before beating Quinnipiac on Tuesday and Dartmouth on Wednesday.
Robbie Anston leads BC in hitting with a .372 average. Anston, who is one of three Eagles to have started all 45 games this season, also leads the team in hits (67), doubles (17), on-base percentage (.468) and stolen bases (11). Tony Sanchez (.359) is one of the ACC’s top power hitters, entering the series with 14 home runs, 14 doubles and a team-high 116 total bases. Mickey Wiswall is second on the team with 11 homers while Mike Belfiore, who also serves as the team’s closer, is third with 10.
JB MacDonald (4-5, 3.95), John Leonard (1-2, 7.25) and Pat Dean (4-3, 3.82) are slated to start this weekend for the Eagles. MacDonald leads the staff in holding opponents to a .229 batting average against him while Dean leads the team with 64 strikeouts and has the lowest ERA of any BC starter. Belfiore (5-0, 2.64) leads the team in wins, ERA and saves (7).
MIAMI vs. BC
Miami is 5-0 all-time against Boston College. Miami won the first two meetings between the two schools with a pair of wins in 2003 before sweeping the Eagles last year in Coral Gables. In the five meetings against BC, UM is averaging 12 runs a game and has scored in double-digits three times.
AFTER BC
The Hurricanes will return home for their final regular season series of the 2009 when they step out of their ACC schedule to play host to Bethune Cookman, May 8-10. Game times at Alex Rodriguez Park for the three-game set are scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday, 7 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.
MORRIS APPROACHING GAME 1,000
When Miami plays Boston College Saturday night at Campanelli Stadium, head coach Jim Morris will be coaching his 1,000th game at UM. Entering the weekend, Morris has coached 998 games at UM and has tallied a record of 724-271-3 (.727) in his 16 seasons at the helm of the Hurricane baseball program.
22 in 21
Over the last 21 games, junior Jason Hagerty is hitting a team-best .368 with team-highs in hits (28), doubles (7), triples (2), RBI (25), total bases (51) and slugging percentage (.671). Hagerty is also second on the team in runs (21) and on-base percentage (.478) over that span and has at least one RBI in 15 of the last 21 contests.
ACC UPDATE
The Hurricanes are one of six ACC teams with double-digit league wins. North Carolina leads the Coastal Division with a league record of 16-7 while Florida State sits atop the Atlantic Division at 15-7. Six ACC teams are currently ranked in the Top 25 in this week’s polls, including UM, Georgia Tech, FSU, North Carolina, Virginia and Clemson.
