`Canes Baseball Cracks Preseason CBN Top 20 Poll
Dec. 20, 2010
Tucson, Ariz. – The University of Miami baseball team is ranked No. 18 in the preseason Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll released Mon., Dec. 20, by the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper in Tucson, Ariz.
Compiling a record of 43-20 en route to the NCAA Super Regional [Gainesville, Fla.] in 2010, the Hurricanes ended the campaign ranked No. 18 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll. Miami is currently riding an NCAA record 38 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances.
Under the direction of head coach Jim Morris, set to embark upon his 18th season at the helm in Coral Gables, the `Canes are set to open the 2011 season on Fri., Feb. 18, playing host to Rutgers in a three-game series at Alex Rodriguez Park on the UM campus. In fact, the `Canes open the season with six of their first seven games at Alex Rodriguez Park, and 12 of the first 17 overall.
The Hurricanes will play 56 games in 2011, including an exhibition game against the Florida Marlins on Sun., Feb. 27, in Jupiter, Fla. UM will play 34 games inside Alex Rodriguez Park, while playing a total of 40 games in the Sunshine State of Florida.
A total of five Atlantic Coast Conference teams cracked the top 20 of the preseason CBN poll. Along with Miami, those teams were Clemson (No. 4), Florida State (No. 13), Virginia (No. 17) and Georgia Tech (No. 19). North Carolina rounds out the ACC contingent with a No. 27 ranking in the 40-team poll. All six of the ACC’s 2011 preseason ranked teams joined NC State and Virginia Tech to give the ACC a league-record eight teams in the 2010 NCAA tournament field. NC State received votes in Collegiate Baseball’s 2011 preseason poll
TCU garnered first place in the preseason poll, followed in order by Florida, UCLA, Clemson and Vanderbilt.
Miami returns a total of 18 letterwinners from a season ago, including five of the team’s top eight performers at the plate. Senior outfielder Chris Pelaez (Miami, Fla.) is the leading batter returning from 2010 where he registered a .314 average – second overall on the team, as well as junior outfielder Nathan Melendres (Miami, Fla.) who finished the year batting .301. Junior third baseman Harold Martinez (Miami, Fla.) led the team in homeruns (21) and finished third in hits (71). Sophomores Stephen Perez (Miami, Fla.) and Zeke DeVoss (Mims, Fla.) are also back for the `Canes. Pitchers Daniel Miranda (Miami, Fla.) and Eric Whaley (Pompano Beach, Fla.) headline the pitching staff back for the `Canes.
For ticket information for the 2010 baseball season, call 1-800-GO-CANES or visit Hurricanesports.com.
For a detailed rundown on the top 40 teams, see the Jan. 7, 2011 edition of “Collegiate Baseball” newspaper which also includes complete details of all top players in each NCAA Division I conference. The “Collegiate Baseball” Newspaper poll is the oldest college baseball poll. Its birth took place during the 1958 college baseball season.
For more information on the University of Miami baseball team, please log on to HurricaneSports.com. Once there, you will find up-to-date news, stats and information regarding the Hurricanes baseball program. To follow the UM Baseball Team via twitter, please navigate to Twitter.com/CanesBaseball.
You can keep up-to-date with all UM Athletics via twitter at Twitter.com/HurricaneSports. You can also become a fan of the ‘Canes on Facebook at Facebook.com/MiamiHurricanes.
