Baseball Travels to Steel City for Series with Pitt

MiamiatPittsburgh

MIAMI TO BATTLE PANTHERS IN STEEL CITY

• The Miami Hurricanes will travel to Pittsburgh to play the host Panthers in a weekend ACC series from April 14-15 at Charles L. Cost Field (ACC Network Extra)

• Miami carries a perfect 15-0 all-time series lead against the Panthers, and swept Pittsburgh in its only other trip to the Steel City in 2015 (May 1-3). The Hurricanes also swept Pittsburgh in the 2016 series at Mark Light Field (May 13-15).

• The Hurricanes enter the weekend with a 7-8 record in ACC play, good for the third-best record in the Coastal Division. Pittsburgh is 6-9, tied for fourth-best in the division.

• Miami junior righthander Jesse Lepore (1-4, 5.27 ERA) will start the series opener Friday night at Charles L. Cost Field.
WEEKEND REWIND: UM WINS SERIES VS. DUKE

• The Hurricanes won two of three games to capture their series against visiting Duke from April 8-10 at Mark Light Field.

• Trailing 7-0 in the seventh inning of Game 1, Miami scored nine runs over the game’ s final three innings, including a three-run, walk off home run from captain Johnny Ruiz in the ninth, to take a 9-7, come-from behind win.

• Lefthander Jeb Bargfeldt tossed five shutout innings, junior Carl Chester homered in the first inning, and Miami clinched its series with Duke with a commanding 7-0 victory in Game 2 on April 9.

• Miami came up with another late rally in Game 3 to tie the game 2-2 in the eighth, but fell in extra innings, 5-2.
HEATING UP: BATISTA, VELIZ IMPRESSING

• Senior Randy Batista has been among Miami’s top offensive performers over the last five games. He is batting a team-best .385 over that stretch with five hits, four runs, five RBI and a .556 on-base.

• Miami lefthander Jeb Bargfeldt has been the most consistent weekend starter for the Hurricanes. In five ACC starts, Bargfeldt is 2-1 with a 1.42 ERA. He is holding ACC opponents to a .204 average.

• Sophomore Andrew Cabezas has been among Miami’s top performers out of the bullpen this season. In the last 10 games, he has made a team-high seven appearances and totaled 14 strikeouts compared to four walks in 8.1 combined innings with a 2.16 ERA.

• Serving as the team’s midweek starter, freshman Greg Veliz has been impressive, boasting a 2.41 ERA and a .152 opponent average.
BARGFELDT SHINING IN YEAR 1 AT MIAMI

•  Junior Jeb Bargfeldt has been among Miami’s top performers this season in his first year as a Hurricane. He transferred to UM after spending 2015 at Wichita State and 2016 at Cisco College (TX).

•  Bargfeldt has a team-best 1.88 ERA and has made eight starts, all as a member of the weekend rotation. He is holding opponents to a .213 average, allowing just nine earned runs in 43.0 innings.

•  Bargfeldt has been particularly impressive in ACC play; he has compiled a 1.42 ERA and a 2-1 record in five conference starts, surrendering just four earned runs in 25.1 innings.

• The Owasso, Okla., native, whose father is the head softball coach at Tulsa, has the sixth-lowest ERA in the ACC (1.88) and the third-lowest ERA in conference play (1.42).
LOOKING FOR A FOUR-PEAT

•  Miami won its third straight ACC Coastal Division title in 2016, posting a 21-7 record in ACC play to earn the division crown.

•  The Hurricanes have won 67 ACC games in the prior three seasons – the most wins in a three-year stretch by any program since ACC expanded to a 30-game conference schedule in 2005.

•  Miami has won the ACC Regular Season Championship three times, most recently in 2016 when the Canes finished 21-7; UM won the ACC regular season crown & ACC Tournament in 2008.

• The Hurricanes have won four ACC Coastal Division titles (2008, 2014, 2015, 2016) in history and one ACC Championship (2008).

• Since the beginning of the 2014 season, Miami has won 26 of its past 35 ACC series. The Hurricanes went 8-2 in ACC series in 2014, 7-3 in 2015, 9-1 in 2016 and are 2-3 in 2017.