No. 11 Baseball Opens ACC Play at Louisville

Welcome to the ACC
• No. 11 Miami will travel to Jim Patterson Stadium for a matchup with ACC newcomer No. 17 Louisville to open its ACC schedule from March 6-8. Game times are set for 3 p.m., 1 p.m. and 1 p.m.
• The Hurricanes have faced the Cardinals only four times in history, and trail in the all-time series by a 1-3 mark. UM traveled to Louisville for the 2013 NCAA postseason, but fell 4-6 to the Cardinals in a winners’ bracket matchup.
• Miami has won eight of 10 opening ACC series since joining the conference prior to the 2005 season, and holds a 23-7 record in those games. UM won the 2014 ACC Regular Season Title and won 13 of 15 road games – including four road sweeps.
• Louisville is 8-4 through its first 12 games, and won its home series (2-1) with Xavier last weekend. The Cardinals are led by Sutton Whiting (.390 AVG, .554 OBP), Corey Ray (two home runs, 10 RBI) and ace Kyle Funkhouser (1-2, 1.93 ERA).

Heating Up

• Miami captured its sixth straight home series victory dating back to 2014, taking two of three from reigning Horizon League regular season champions Wright State last weekend. UM has won 10 of its last 11 regular season series dating back to last year.
•; Among Miami’s top performers against the Raiders: Ricky Eusebio (5-for-10 at the plate), Carl Chester (.429, six hits, solo home run) and Willie Abreu (.429, six hits, walk-off single in game two).
• Abreu is hitting .381 (8-for-21) over the last five games, including four RBI and just one strikeout. 
• Freshman lefthander Michael Mediavilla has allowed just one run in his seven appearances this season (1.42 ERA), with nine strikeouts compared to just one walk.

One-Two Punch

• Despite the graduation of 1-2 hitters Dale Carey and Tyler Palmer – who combined in those roles in 62 of 63 games in 2014 – freshman Carl Chester and junior Ricky Eusebio haven’t missed a beat.
• Chester is riding a five-game hitting streak, has two homers & a team-high 27 total bases, seven RBI and is slugging .474 at leadoff.
• Eusebio has a team-high .550 on-base and OPS of 1.062.
• Chester & Eusebio give UM a speedy duo at the top of the order – Eusebio is a perfect 6-for-6 on steals, while Chester is 4-for-7.

Picking Up Where He Left Off

• Then-freshman Bryan Garcia was named the team’s closer just prior to the 2014 season opener and rewarded the coaching staff with an All-American campaign (NCBWA, third team).
• Garcia has three saves, six appearances, and has allowed just one run in 6.1 innings. He has five strikeouts compared to just one walk, and now has 18 career saves – tied for No. 10 in UM history.
• An All-ACC Second Team selection as a reliever, Garcia set the Miami freshman saves record and tied for 11th-most saves nationally with 15 in 2014. He was a consensus Freshman All American first-team selection at reliever.
• Garcia, whose 15 saves were tied for the seventh-most in a single season in UM history, was named a 2015 Preseason All American by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and Perfect Game.