No. 11 Miami Visits Duke in First ACC Road Weekend
DURHAM, N.C. – The 11th-ranked University of Miami baseball team will play its first road series of the 2010 season this weekend when the `Canes visit Duke for a three-game series at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park beginning Friday, March 19.
Miami (11-5, 2-1 ACC) and Duke (12-4, 2-1 ACC) are both coming off Atlantic Coast Conference series wins last weekend, as the `Canes took two-of-three from Boston College while the Blue Devils won a pair of games against rival North Carolina.
Game one of the Miami-Duke series is slated for a 6 p.m. start Friday night, with game two set for 2 p.m.Saturday and the finale for 1 p.m. Sunday.
Miami’s bullpen continues to dominate as of late, allowing just five earned runs over the last 29 innings – including a streak of 26 straight innings without an earned run over that ended late in Wednesday’s game against Fordham. Two of the big reasons for the bullpen’s recent success come from freshman right-handers E.J. Encinosa and Eric Whaley, who have been Miami’s top hurlers as of late. Encinosa currently leads the staff with a 2.16 ERA while Whaley owns the staff’s best record at 3-0.
Yasmani Grandal enters the weekend ranked second in the ACC in hitting in conference play after going 7-for-11 with a homer, three doubles, three RBI, four runs scored and 13 total bases against Boston College last weekend. Frankie Ratcliff, who has started the last six games at second for the `Canes, leads the team in steals (4), RBI (8) and runs scored (9) over that span. Ratcliff hit lead-off for the first two times in his career in both games against Fordham over the mid-week.
Miami is slated to stick with the same weekend rotation for the third straight week with left-hander Chris Hernandez (1-2, 2.35) going Friday night, right-hander Jason Santana (1-1, 6.63) going Saturday night and left-hander Eric Erickson (1-1, 3.79) taking the mound on Sunday.
WEEKEND SCHEDULE
GAME 17: FRIDAY, MARCH 19, 6 p.m.
PROBABLE STARTERS
MIAMI – LHP Chris Hernandez (1-2, 2.35) vs. DUKE – Michael Ness (1-1, 4.82)
RADIO: 90.5 WVUM
GAME 18: SATURDAY, MARCH 20, 2 p.m.
PROBABLE STARTERS
MIAMI – RHP Jason Santana (1-1, 6.63) vs. DUKE – Eric Pfisterer (2-1, 5.95)
RADIO: 90.5 WVUM
GAME 19: SUNDAY, MARCH 21, 1 p.m.
PROBABLE STARTERS
MIAMI -LHP Eric Erickson (1-1, 3.79) vs. DUKE – Dennis O’Grady (0-0, 2.63)
RADIO: 90.5 WVUM
DUKE REPORT
The Blue Devils enter this weekend’s series with a record of 12-4 overall, 11-1 at home and 2-1 in ACC play after picking up a series win over rival UNC last weekend at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. Duke comes in having won 11 of their last 12, with the lone loss coming to the Tar Heels in both team’s ACC opener on Friday, March 12. Jeremy Gould leads the Blue Devils in hitting, coming in with a .339 average. Will Piwnica-Worms has highs for RBI (18), runs scored (19) and triples (5), while Marcus Stroman is a perfect 7-for-7 in stolen base attempts. Jake Lemmerman has three of the team’s eight homers this year. Duke has a handful of relievers who are off to a strong start, including Ben Grisz (1-1, 1.04 ERA) who leads the team with eight apperances, and Christopher Manno (1-0, 0.00 ERA) who has 11 strikeouts and has yet to allow an earned run in 9 2/3 innings. Saturday starter Eric Pfisterer leads the staff in innings pitched (19.2) and strikeouts (19).
MIAMI-DUKE ALL-TIME SERIES
Miami leads the all-time series with Duke, 20-3, including a mark of 13-1 since UM joined the ACC. Last season, the `Canes took two of three against the Blue Devils in Coral Gables, winning on Sunday after the teams split the first two games of the weekend series.
AFTER DUKE
Miami will return to Alex Rodriguez Park to play host to UCF on Tuesday, March 23 at 6 p.m. It game will mark the second of two meetings between the `Canes and the Knights after Miami picked its biggest win of the season – a 19-2 victory at UCF – on March 9. Following the mid-week game against UCF, Miami will return to North Carolina for the second straight weekend – this time to face NC State in Raleigh, March 26-28.
GRANDAL ADDED TO BENCH AWARD WATCH LIST
Junior catcher Yasmani Grandal is one of 10 catchers that have been added to the official watch list for the 2010 Coleman Company-Johnny Bench Award delivered by Papa John’s Pizza, as announced by The Greater Wichita Area Sports Commission this week. The watch list will be narrowed down to the semifinalists, whom will be announced May 19, 2010. Ballots will be sent to the national voting panel at the end of May for a vote to determine the three finalists. The finalists will be announced June 2, 2010 prior to the NCAA Regionals and Major League Baseball Draft.Grandal is currently second on the team hitting (.382) and leads the club in doubles (7), runs scored (17), on-base percentage (.539) and walks (17) while ranking third in RBI (12).
SPEED PAYING OFF
Miami hitters have already recorded nine triples this year – three more than the `Canes had as a team in 60 games last season. In fact, Zeke DeVoss, Scott Lawson and Michael Broad have already combined to record the same amount as doubles as the entire `09 team.
HITTING MACHINE
Miami has recorded double-digit hits in 11 of 16 games this season – including 14 hits in the series finale against Boston College and 15 in Wednesday’s win over Fordham. The `Canes have also been scoring runs at will, scoring at least seven runs in 12 of 16 contests thus far.
SWING AND A MISS
Miami’s pitching staff has been striking out batters at an impressive rate in the early going, collecting 156 Ks in 144 innings as a staff. Eight UM pitchers have as many, if not more, strikeouts than walks, including Chris Hernandez (who has a staff-high 27 strikeouts in 23 IP), E.J. Encinosa (20 Ks in 16.1 IP) and Eric Whaley (17 Ks in 12.2 IP). Eric Erickson has the team’s best strikeout to walk ratio (20 Ks and 3 BBs in 19 IP).
