No. 7 Miami To Host Barry for Two Games This Weekend
May 6, 2010
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The seventh-ranked University of Miami baseball team returns to the diamond this weekend to take on Barry in a two-game series, May 7-8, at Alex Rodriguez Park. After playing Atlantic Coast Conference opponents each of the last eight weekends, the Hurricanes (34-11, 18-6 ACC) will step out of conference play to host the Buccaneers at 7 p.m. Friday and 7 p.m. Saturday.
Miami enters the weekend having won 14 straight games at Alex Rodriguez Park, including a series sweep of Maryland this past weekend in Coral Gables. More recently, the Hurricanes took this past mid-week off to focus on final exams.The `Canes have nine games remaining on their regular season schedule, with a trip to Atlanta to face No. 5 Georgia Tech coming up next weekend. Miami is currently tied with Virginia atop the ACC standings with a league mark of 18-6, while the Yellow Jackets sit a game back at 17-7.
As he has for most of the season’s second half, Yasmani Grandal leads the ACC in hitting (.424), on-base percentage (.551) and slugging percentage (.551). Over his last 10 games, Grandal is 12-for-24 with eight RBI, nine runs scored and 16 walks, including seven intentional.
The Hurricanes have hit 44 homers over their last 22 games, after hitting just 24 in the season’s first 23 games. Leading the home run barrage has been Harold Martinez, who has hit eight of his team-leading 14 homers in UM’s last 20 games.
The pitching staff continues to be anchored by Friday starter Chris Hernandez (6-2, 3.32 ERA), who is coming off one of his best starts of the year in allowing just one run in seven innings of work against Maryland. Over the last few weeks, Taylor Wulf (0-1, 1.42 ERA) and Travis Miller (1-0, 1.46 ERA) have continued to see more action out of the bullpen. Wulf has allowed just one run over his last 9 2/3 innings while Miller is coming off an outing in which he allowed just one unearned run in four innings against the Terrapins.
WEEKEND SCHEDULE
GAME 46: FRIDAY, MAY 7, 7 p.m.
PROBABLE STARTERS
BARRY – RHP Brian Santana (3-0, 3.16) vs. MIAMI – LHP Chris Hernandez (6-2, 3.32)
RADIO: 90.5 WVUM
GAME 47: SATURDAY, MAY 8, 7 p.m.
PROBABLE STARTERS
BARRY – RHP Scott Sexton (2-5, 6.04) vs. MIAMI – RHP Jason Santana (4-2, 5.01)
RADIO: 90.5 WVUM
BARRY REPORT
The Buccaneers enter this weekend’s two-game set with an overall record of 32-17 and a road mark of 15-9. They have won six of their last seven coming in, including a three-game sweep of Lynn this past weekend in Boca Raton. Ryan Garcia leads Barry with a .384 average, while Yas Gutierrez (.376) has team-highs for homers (14), RBI (59) and total bases (137). Gutierrez was named SSC Player of the Week last week after hitting .467 with six runs and seven RBI in four games. The Bucs have four players with double-digit steals, led by Drew Dwelly’s 17. Jason Santana’s brother Brian is the one of the team’s top pitchers, owning a 3-0 mark and a 3.16 ERA in 30 appearances. Scott Sexton (2-5, 6.04 ERA) has six of the team’s 10 saves.
MIAMI-BARRY ALL-TIME SERIES
The Hurricanes are 17-0 all-time against the Buccaneers. Last year’s meeting (a 15-10 Miami win on April 1) was the first since 2000. The series started in 1985 with the two teams meeting the majority of the years up until 2000. All 17 games were played in Coral Gables. AFTER BARRY The Hurricanes will take the mid-week off before preparing to travel to Atlanta to face ACC Coastal Division power Georgia Tech, May 14-16. Game one of the three-game series against the Yellow Jackets is slated for 7 p.m. at Russ Chandler Stadium.
POLL MOVEMENT
The `Canes jumped up in all five polls after going a perfect 5-0 last week. UM moved back into the Top 10 in the Collegiate Baseball poll, going from No. 11 to No. 7, while it moved up three spots to No. 13 in the Baseball America poll and two spots to No. 12 in the NCBWA poll. The `Canes also went from No. 14 to No. 13 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll, from No. 16 to No. 14 in the Rivals.com poll.
ERA KINGS
Miami’s pitching staff currently boasts the lowest overall ERA in the Atlantic Coast Conference (3.56) and lowest ERA in league play (3.22). Seven UM pitchers that have logged double-digit innings this year own ERAs under four, including E.J. Encinosa who owns a 1.75 ERA in 36 innings of work. The last time a Miami team finished the season with an ERA under four was in 2004, when the Hurricanes finished with a 3.73 ERA. The last time the staff finished with an ERA under 3.70 was 1996.
BROAD’S WEEK
Freshman Michael Broad is coming off arguably his best week as a Hurricane. In five games last week, Broad led the `Canes offensively, going 11-for-20 (.550) with two homers, six RBI, five runs and a team-best 18 total bases. Broad hit safely in all five games on the week, recording multiple hits in four of Miami’s five wins. Against Maryland, Broad went 6-for-12, including a 3-for-4, two RBI performance on Sunday. Broad slugged a team-best .900 on the week and finished with a .500 on-base percentage.
TICKET INFO
To order tickets to any of the six remaining regular season home games left on Miami’s schedule, visit www.hurricanesports.com or call 1-800-GO-CANES.
