Miami Baseball Ranked No. 24 in CBL Preseason Top 30

Jan. 10, 2011

Omaha, Neb. – Under the direction of head coach Jim Morris, set to begin his 18th year at the helm of the `Canes baseball program in Coral Gables, the University of Miami baseball team is ranked No. 24 in College Baseball Lineup’s Preseason Top 30, released Mon., Jan. 10.

Last season, the Hurricanes posted a record of 43-20 and won the NCAA Coral Gables Regional after making their NCAA-record 38th trip to the baseball field of 64. Defeating teams from Texas A&M and Dartmouth, the `Canes advanced to the NCAA Super Regional in Gainesville, Fla.

Five Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) schools were present on the College Baseball Lineup’s Preseason list, with Clemson holding the highest ranking at No. 6. The Tigers were followed by Florida State (No. 9), Virginia (No. 20), Miami (No. 24) and Georgia Tech (No. 26). The Florida Gators topped the preseason ranking, followed in order by UCLA, TCU, Vanderbilt and Oklahoma rounding out the top five.

Miami will begin the 2011 season playing host to Rutgers at Alex Rodriguez Park in Coral Gables for a three-game series beginning Fri., Feb. 18, at 7 p.m. In fact, the `Canes open the season with six of their first seven games at home, and 12 of the first 17 overall. The Hurricanes will play 56 games in 2011. UM will play 34 games inside Alex Rodriguez Park, while playing a total of 40 games in the Sunshine State of Florida.

Returning for the Hurricanes this season is third baseman Harold Martinez (Miami, Fla.), named last month to the Louisville Slugger Preseason All-America Third Team for NCAA Division I. Martinez, a 6-3, 208-pound junior led the ACC in homeruns in 2010 (21), landing his way onto the Second Team All-ACC squad at the end of the year. He finished the year batting .295 in a team-leading 241 plate appearances. He also started all 62 games for the Hurricanes as a sophomore – 60 of those coming at third base.

Also returning is junior outfielder Nathan Melendres (Miami, Fla.) who closed out the 2010 season as one of the team’s hottest hitters, finishing the year hitting over .300 with nine homers and 14 stolen bases. On the mound, the `Canes return sophomore right-hander Eric Whaley (Pompano Beach, Fla.) who concluded the 2010 year with a 5-1 record in 29 appearances and four starts. Junior left-hander Daniel Miranda (Miami, Fla.) is also back after posting a 2010 record of 5-3 with an ERA of 3.23 and posting 59 strikeouts in 47.1 innings of work.

For ticket information for the 2011 baseball season, call 1-800-GO-CANES or visit Hurricanesports.com.

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.