Hurricanes to Host Knights at The Light

UCFatMiami

CANES TO HOST KNIGHTS AT THE LIGHT

• After winning their fourth series in the past five weekends, the Hurricanes return to Mark Light Field for a midweek matchup against visiting UCF on Wed., May 10, 2017 (7 p.m., ACC Network Extra).

•  Miami has won four straight games against the Knights, coached by former Hurricane baseball player and first-year skipper Greg Lovelady, who won national championships at Miami in 1999 & 2001.

•  Miami won both of the head-to-head matchups in 2016, including a road tilt in Orlando on March 16. The Canes are 21-5 all-time against UCF, including an 11-4 mark under coach Jim Morris.

• Freshman RHP Evan McKendry (3-1, 3.57 ERA) will oppose UCF senior Trent Thompson (0-1, 0.75 ERA) in Wednesday’s matchup.

SECOND-HALF SURGE

• Miami has not lost a series since March 30, winning four of its last five and splitting a weather-shortened two-game set vs. FSU.

•  After going 12-16 through the first half of the season, the Hurricanes have since posted a 12-7 record. Miami is 12-11 in ACC play, good for the sixth-best record in the ACC and third in the ACC Coastal.

WEEKEND REWIND: MIAMI TOPS WILDCATS

• The Hurricanes won their fourth series in the last five tries last weekend (May 5-7) at Mark Light Field, taking two of three games from visiting Bethune-Cookman in a nonconference series.

• Miami scored two runs in the seventh and plated the go-ahead run in the eighth to come back for a 6-5 win in Game 1. Sophomore Romy Gonzalez homered twice and sophomore closer Frankie Bartow recorded his 11th save of the year in the win.
• Making his second start on the weekend staff, freshman Greg Veliz tossed six dominant innings to win the rubber match.

HEATING UP: CABEZAS SHINING IN BULLPEN

• Sophomore Andrew Cabezas has been Miami’s top reliever this year. In the last 20 games, he has made 11 appearances and totaled 29 strikeouts with five walks in 20.0 innings with a 0.90 ERA.

• Miami lefthander Jeb Bargfeldt has been the most consistent weekend starter for the Canes. In seven ACC starts, Bargfeldt is 4-2 with a 2.02 ERA. He is holding ACC opponents to a .188 average.

• Junior Hunter Tackett broke out for a big weekend on the road at Boston College (April 28-30). Tackett batted a team-best .545 (6-for-11) for the weekend and hit his first two homers as a Hurricane. He had one double, six RBI and a .615 on-base percentage.

THREE-TIME DEFENDING COASTAL CHAMPS

•  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.

• Since the beginning of the 2014 season, Miami has won 28 of its past 38 ACC series. The Hurricanes went 8-2 in ACC series in 2014, 7-3 in 2015, 9-1 in 2016 and are 4-3-1 in 2017.