UM Baseball Travels to FAU for Weekday Contest
Feb. 22, 2011
Complete Game Notes in PDF Format 
Coral Gables, Fla. – The No. 20 University of Miami baseball team travels to Boca Raton, Fla., on Wednesday, Feb. 23, taking on the Owls of Florida Atlantic University in a midweek game scheduled at FAU Baseball Stadium at 6:30 p.m. This is Miami’s first road game of the 2011 campaign.
UMiami enters Wednesday’s game with a 2-1 overall record, defeating Rutgers in a three-game homestand last weekend in Coral Gables, Fla. The Hurricanes got solid performances through the first five innings from all three starting pitchers over the weekend, including a solid opening night performance from freshman left-hander Bryan Radziewski. Radziewski pitched 6.0 innings on Friday, spreading out three hits, one earned run, one walk and collecting a team weekend-high eight strikeouts.
Saturday and Sunday starters, E.J. Encinosa and Eric Whaley, were almost untouchable through their first five innings on the bump, neither allowing a single run in that span, and combining for 10 strikeouts.
The Miami bullpen was equally impressive in Friday and Sunday wins for the `Canes. The Hurricanes used four different pitchers out of the bullpen over the weekend against Rutgers. The combination of Sam Robinson, Adam Sargent, Javi Salas and closer Dan Miranda shut down the opposition to help earn two-of-three wins against the Scarlet Knights. On the weekend, the Miami bullpen allowed just two runs and eight hits in 13 innings of action against the Scarlet Knights. The UM bullpen also collected 14 K’s in the series, using a win from Sam Robinson on Friday in relief of Radziewski.
On the base path, UM is full of speed this year, and through the first three games it is prevalent. Head coach Jim Morris, now in his 18th year at the helm in Coral Gables, has preached stealing bases throughout his tenure, and the `Canes swiped 9-of-11 bases in the first series of the campaign. Junior outfielder Nathan Melendres is 4-for-4 in stolen base attempts this year, and Chantz Mack is 2-for-2. In Sunday’s series finale against the Scarlet Knight, UMiami was 5-for-5 in steal attempts.
Florida Atlantic owns a 3-0 record going to play the Florida Gators on Tuesday, Feb. 22. The Owls took all three games in a weekend series against Hofstra (Feb. 18-20), and averaged 10 runs per contest. FAU’s bullpen had two of its three wins while pitching 14 of the 27 innings against the Pride. The bullpen allowed just one earned run, struck out 11 batters and had two walks.
The Owls are led at the plate by Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week, Nick Delguidice. On the weekend, he batted .750 with nine hits, eight RBI and a homer. Behind him above the .400-plateau are Alex Hudak (.667), Joey Burkhalter (.600) and Raymond Church (.417). As a team, FAU is batting .376, while the pitching staff is allowing a 4.00 ERA.
UMiami leads the all-time series against FAU by a commanding 47-8 advantage. The Hurricanes swept all four games last year against the Owls. In the series, UMiami has taken the last seven games consecutively, and is a winner in 11 of the last 12 overall. The last FAU win over UM came back on Apr. 9, 2008, using a 6-3 edge in Coral Gables.
Live stats for the game will be provided through Game Tracker at HurricaneSports.com. Fans can also join the live chat, provided by Cover It Live, by visiting HurricaneSports.com as well.
Baseball: Miami at Florida Atlantic
For more information on the University of Miami baseball team, please log on to HurricaneSports.com. To follow the UM Baseball Team via twitter, please navigate to Twitter.com/CanesBaseball. You can also access the official UMiami Baseball blog at TheUBaseball.com.
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