No. 15 Miami Hosts Wake In ACC Home Weekend
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – In search of their fourth straight series win to open Atlantic Coast Conference play, the 15th-ranked University of Miami baseball team will play host to Wake Forest this weekend at Alex Rodriguez Park. Game one of the three-game series is slated for Friday, April 2 at 7 p.m.
Miami (17-7, 7-2 ACC) has won each of its first three ACC series this year, with a home win over Boston College before back-to-back road wins at Duke and NC State the last two weekends. On Wednesday, the `Canes won the first of three meetings with FAU in a span of eight days, pulling away for a 12-5 win behind home runs from Yasmani Grandal, Chris Pelaez and Stephen Perez.
Grandal continues to be the catalyst for the Hurricanes’ offense, having gone 12-for-18 with eight RBI in UM’s last five games. Grandal leads all ACC hitters with a .526 average in league play and currently boasts an impressive .530 on-base percentage overall this year. Nathan Melendres has been nearly as productive as Grandal as of late, going 11-for-22 with seven RBI in Miami’s last six contests. On Wednesday, both Grandal and Melendres recorded three-hit games while all nine starters in UM’s line-up finished with at least one hit on the night.
Freshman E.J. Encinosa turned in yet another impressive outing against the Owls, tossing 3 2/3 scoreless relief innings to earn his first career win. Encinosa, who leads the `Canes with a 1.67 ERA this season, has allowed just one earned run while striking out 22 in his last 17 1/3 innings.
Left-hander Chris Hernandez (3-2, 2.68 ERA) will take the mound Friday for the `Canes, while fellow lefty Eric Erickson (2-1, 3.34 ERA) makes the move from Sunday to Saturday with righty Jason Santana (2-1, 5.34 ERA) making the move to Sunday.
WEEKEND SCHEDULE
GAME 25: FRIDAY, APRIL 2, 7 p.m.
PROBABLE STARTERS
WAKE – RHP Michael Dimock (1-4, 5.74 ERA) vs. MIAMI – LHP Chris Hernandez (3-2, 2.68 ERA)
RADIO: 560 WQAM, 90.5 WVUM
GAME 26: SATURDAY, APRIL 3, 7 p.m.
PROBABLE STARTERS
WAKE – LHP Tim Cooney (3-1, 2.97 ERA) vs. MIAMI – LHP Eric Erickson (2-1, 3.34 ERA)
RADIO: 90.5 WVUM, 1450 ESPN DEPORTES
TV: CSS
GAME 27: SUNDAY, APRIL 4, 1 p.m.
PROBABLE STARTERS
WAKE – LHP Austin Stadler (1-1, 4.58 ERA) vs. MIAMI – RHP Jason Santana (2-1, 5.34 ERA)
RADIO: 90.5 WVUM
WAKE FOREST REPORT
Wake Forest comes into this weekend’s series with a record of 9-18 overall and 2-7 in ACC play. After opening the season 6-6, the Demon Deacons have lost 12 of their last 15 – including Wednesday night’s 17-12 loss at Elon. Wake dropped its first three ACC series, losing at Georgia Tech, at home to NC State and at Virginia Tech this past weekend. Mike Murray is the team’s top hitter, coming in with a .347 average. Steven Brooks (.340) leads the team in runs (26), on-base percentage (.442) and steals (15) while Ryan Semeniuk has a team-high four homers. Tim Cooney is the ace of the Wake Forest staff, coming in with a 3-1 mark and a 2.97 ERA in six starts this year. Austin Stadler (1-1, 4.58, six starts) leads the staff in strikeouts (26) while Michael Dimock (1-4, 5.74, four starts) has struggled in the early going. Joel Ernst (0-0, 4.15, two saves) is the team’s go-to reliever, having appeared in a team-high 13 games thus far.
MIAMI-WAKE FOREST ALL-TIME SERIES
Miami leads the all-time series with Wake Forest, 19-5. The Hurricanes have won five straight against the Demon Deacons, including a series sweep in Winston-Salem at the end of the regular season last year. The Hurricanes scored 46 runs in the series at the Wake Forest Baseball Park – the most by a UM team in a three-game series since the 2003 Hurricanes scored 70 against Pace, May 2-4, 2003. The last time the two teams met in Coral Gables, Miami won both games in 2008, out-scoring the Demon Deacons 40-6.
AFTER WAKE FOREST
The Hurricanes will wrap up their season series with FAU, playing in Boca Raton Tuesday night before returning to Alex Rodriguez Park to take on the Owls again Wednesday night. Next weekend, Miami will make its third weekend trip in the last four weekend when the `Canes head to Blacksburg, Va. to take on Virginia Tech, March 9-11 at English Field.
`CANES VS. THE DEACONS
Given the Hurricanes’ recent success against the Demon Deacons, a number of current `Canes have had successful careers already against Wake Forest. Yasmani Grandal is 9-for-13 with a homer, five RBI and 11 runs scored in just four games against Wake Forest. Nathan Melendres (6-for-12, five RBI) had a big series against the Demon Deacons last year as a freshman, while Scott Lawson hit two of hit two of his four homers in 2009 in the series win Winston-Salem last year. Eric Erickson has two career wins against Wake, including allowing just one run on four hits in eight innings of work when the teams met in Coral Gables his freshman year in 2008. Chris Hernandez also has two career wins against the Demon Deacons, while Travis Miller and Iden Nazario also picked up victories last season.
`CANES IN THE ACC
Several Hurricanes rank among the league’s best statistically in the Atlantic Coast Conference heading into this weekend. Reliever E.J. Encinosa leads the league in opponent’s batting average against (.161), while ranking fourth in appearances (13), fifth in ERA (1.67) and eighth in strikeouts (36). Yasmani Grandal is currently fifth in the league in hitting (.411), second in on-base percentage (.530) and tied for first in doubles (10) while Stephen Perez ranks third in walks (23) and is tied with teammate Zeke DeVoss for sixth in doubles (9).
COASTAL DIVISION UPDATE
Miami is currently in a battle with Georgia Tech and Virginia for the lead in the ACC’s Coastal Division. Georgia Tech currently sits in first at 8-1, followed by the `Canes and the Cavaliers a game back at 7-2. The bottom half of the division is currently Virginia Tech (4-5), Duke (3-6) and North Carolina (2-7). In addition to Miami playing host to Wake this weekend, the Yellow Jackets will face Duke in Atlanta while Virginia travels to Raleigh to take on NC State.
