Hurricanes Set for Pair of Midweek Games

Miami 12-3 (3-0 ACC)
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Illinois State 10-3 (0-0 MVC)
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CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The tenth-ranked Miami Hurricanes return to the diamond this week with a pair of midweek games at home against Illinois State (March 12) and on the road at Central Florida (March 13).

A familiar face will be returning to Coral Gables for Tuesday night’s match-up. Head Coach Mark Kingston, who was an assistant coach under Morris during the Hurricanes run to the 2001 national championship, will bring his team to Miami in hopes of stealing a big midweek match-up. The Redbirds (10-3, 0-0 MVC) split a two-game series with the Hurricanes at Alex Rodriguez Park in 2011.

Freshman lefthander Andrew Suarez, who pitched well in his starting debut at Marlins Park in the team’s exhibition against the Miami Marlins, will be making his first official start as a Hurricane. He will be taking the mound opposite righthander Jeremy Rhoades (1-0, 2.57 ERA), who is also making his first start of the season for the Redbirds.

With Tuesday night’s game in the books, the Hurricanes will travel to Orlando for their first of two match-ups this season against the Knights of Central Florida. UCF, who has risen to the Top-25 in many baseball polls, will provide a tough challenge for Coach Morris’ club. The Knights boast series wins against Boston College, Siena and UMass, and barely fell in two one-run contests to Florida State earlier in the season.

Both games can be heard on WVUM 90.5, while Wednesday’s tilt at Jay Bergman Field will be televised on Bright House Sports Networks with simulcast on CSS Sports for Comcast users in the area. The Hurricanes will return to conference play with a three-game series at Durham Bulls Athletic Park iN Durham, N.C. against the Duke Blue Devils this coming weekend from March 16 – 18.

WEEKLY NOTES

Tweet-Up Tuesday
Tuesday’s game against Illinois State will mark a special event for all Hurricanes fans as the first-ever Tweet-Up Tuesday at Alex Rodriguez Park. If fans re-tweet a particular @CanesBaseball tweet and show it to any ticket representative, they will receive 50% off their general admission ticket.

Freshman Fever in the Gables
Third baseman Esteban Tresgallo and shortstop Jarred Mederos have taken the ACC by storm in the early part of their first seasons in Coral Gables. Tresgallo currently boasts the longest hitting streak in the ACC (14 games), while Mederos has started 10 games at shortstop, including all three games in the team’s series against Boston College.

Rocks in the Middle
Dale Carey, Peter O’Brien and Brad Fieger, who have typically served as the team’s second, third and fifth hitters in the line-up, are the only three players on the team to start all 15 games this season. Tyler Palmer has played in all 15 (with 14 starts), Tresgallo has started 14 games, and Chantz Mack has played in 14 as well (with 11 starts).

Movin’ On Up
After a perfect 4-0 week and an opening Atlantic Coast Conference sweep of visiting Boston College, the Hurricanes continued their ascent in many of college baseball’s most prominent polls. Head Coach Jim Morris’ ballclub jumped from No. 13 to No. 10 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches’ Poll, moved up to No. 15 in Perfect Game’s weekly rankings (up from No. 18) and rose to No. 11 in Colelgiate Baseball Newspaper’s poll.