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Series versus Florida, North Carolina and Virginia highlight home slate

CORAL GABLES, Fla. - Home series against Florida, North Carolina and Virginia and a total of 36 regular season games at Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field highlight the 2010 University of Miami baseball schedule, as announced by head coach Jim Morris on Wednesday.

Miami Head Coach Jim Morris

The 56-game slate also features an exhibition contest against the Florida Marlins on March 3, 19 games against 2009 NCAA Tournament teams and a total of 44 games played inside the state of Florida.

Complete 2010 Miami Schedule (PDF)

The Hurricanes will open the 2010 season with a seven-game homestand beginning with a weekend series versus Rutgers, Feb. 19-21. It marks the second straight year UM will open its season at home against the Scarlet Knights.

Miami will open the month of March with a trip to Tampa to play USF at George Steinbrenner Field – the spring training home of the New York Yankees – on March 2. The next day, the `Canes will take on the Marlins at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter before playing host to rival Florida for a three-game set at Alex Rodriguez Park, March 5-7.

The `Canes will open Atlantic Coast Conference play at home against Boston College, March 12-14. The remaining home series in league play include Wake Forest (April 2-4), North Carolina (16-18), Maryland (April 30 – May 2) and Virginia (May 20-22). The series against the Cavaliers will mark the conclusion of the regular season schedule.

Miami’s road schedule in league play begins with a series at Duke (March 19-21 at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park), followed by trips to NC State (March 26-28), Virginia Tech (April 9-11), Florida State (April 23-25) and Georgia Tech (May 14-16).

The 2010 ACC Tournament will be held May 26-30 at Greensboro’s NewBridge Bank Park. Full tournament passes are on sale now by calling (336) 268-BALL or by visiting www.theacc.com. Individual game tickets for the ACC Tournament will go on sale in April 2010.

Regional play of the NCAA tournament will be held the weekend of June 4-6, followed by Super Regionals, June 11-13, and the College World Series, June 19-30.

The `Canes return 17 letterwinners from last year’s 38-22 team, including 2009 All-ACC performers Chris Hernandez, Yasmani Grandal and Scott Lawson. In addition, two-time All-ACC performer Eric Erickson returns after missing the 2009 season rehabilitating from an injury.

Prior to the season-opener against Rutgers, the team will hold three of its biggest annual events — the preseason banquet, the alumni game and golf tournament – all in the same weekend. The weekend kicks off with the banquet on Friday, Feb. 12, followed by the alumni game on Saturday, Feb. 13 and the team’s golf tournament on Monday, Feb. 15. Former Hurricane and current MLB All-Star Ryan Braun will be the guest speaker at the banquet.

(Release)

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Four Things I’m Thinking About Right Now

1.  College football’s Doak Walker and Biletnikoff Awards could both go to guys who also play college baseball.  If you have followed our Two Sport Reports so far this season you know that Stanford’s Toby Gerhart and Notre Dame’s Golden Tate are among college baseball players who have excelled on the gridiron this fall.

Gerhart’s 1,395 rushing yards are currently the third most in the nation, while Tate is fourth in the land with  1,172 receiving yards.  Tate has scored a total of 14 touchdowns (11 receiving, 2 rushing & 1 punt return), while Gerhart has rumbled across the goal line 19 times.  Tate needs just 78 more receiving yards to break current Chicago Cubs pitcher Jeff Samardzija’s Notre Dame single season receiving school record.

Gerhart batted .288 with 7 home runs and 36 RBIs for the Cardinal in 2009.  Tate hit .329 with 13 stolen bases and scored 45 runs at the top of the Irish line-up last season.

Both were also just named Walter Camp Player of the Year semifinalists.  The duo goes head to head when Notre Dame visits Stanford on Nov. 28th in the regular season finale for both teams.

2.  I talked a little about schedules last week, and I mentioned how Virginia’s first two weeks of 2010 will be challenging with three games each vs. East Carolina and Rhode Island.  Well how about Rhode Island’s 2010 slate?  Rhody opens the season with three games in Starkville, MS vs. Mississippi State and then heads to Charlottesville, VA for those three games against the Cavaliers the following weekend.

There’s a double edged sword for a northern team scheduling two such trips.  The Pros:  You’ll get guarantees for making the trips (needed revenue for teams that don’t get DI college football windfall), you’ll bump your strength of schedule and RPIs, you give your players exposure to great college baseball environments, and you have the chance to compete against and beat good competition.  The Con:  You need to win at least two games in a three-game series to get credit when it comes down to NCAA Tournament selection time.

I’ve talked to an NCAA selection committee member about this before.  Winning just one of three games is essentially the same as losing all three games when it comes to selection.  Teams from the north are better off scheduling just two games against an ACC or SEC team and hope for a split, but most teams from the south have no interest in that.

Jim Foster’s URI team won 37 games in 2009.  They played single games against the likes of Miami, Oklahoma State, Ohio State and Boston College (all tourney teams), but they missed the NCAA Tournament.  They still have a handful of “TBA” games in Winter Haven, FL to be added to the 2010 slate.  We’ll see how things shake out…

3.  I talked last week about guys flying below the radar in high school and then blossoming in college. There’s no better example than Middle Tennessee State’s Bryce Brentz.  The 2009 Team USA outfielder who grew up in Knoxville is wearing blue instead of orange in college, and he’s wearing it well.  As a sophomore last season Brentz led the nation with his .465 average, 28 home runs and .930 slugging percentage.  Not bad for a guy who says he never thought much about playing for Tennessee because he was a “late bloomer”.   MTSU has also won 71 games with a 2009 NCAA Regional appearance in Brentz’s first two years in Murfreesboro.

4.  There’s been a lot of recent talk about revamping instant replay in Major League Baseball.  Most of the talk, centered around umpiring mistakes that were made during the playoffs.   People like Bob Costas are in favor of expanding replay during the playoffs, but not necessarily during the regular season.  The reasoning is there are more cameras in use and the games mean more, so why not take advantage of the extra technology and make sure you get the calls right.  Would you want that rationale applied to the College World Series?  Those games are arguably the most important games of the college season, and they’re all televised by ESPN.  Who’s to say they are really the most important games though?  One could argue though that game three of a Super Regional is just as important as any game in Omaha, because you have to win there just to get to the promised land.  While all Super Regional games are now televised there are not as many cameras in use there, and the angles are different, because the college stadiums are smaller than Rosenblatt Stadium.

Getting the calls right is the most important thing, but sometimes hairs are split by technology.  Case in point:  the Chicago Bulls vs. Denver Nuggets game last week.  A last second shot initially looked like the Bulls won the game.  However after ten minutes of replay review the shot was waved off and the Nuggets won.  If it takes ten minutes to make the decision shouldn’t the initial ruling just stand?

College football has instant replay, but that system is far from perfect.  Who hasn’t watched a college football game and scratched their heads at calls made on the field that are overturned even when video replays don’t indisputably support the decision to overturn them.  Too often judgment in the replay booth replaces judgments made on the field, and that’s not how replay is supposed to be used.

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia associate head coach Kevin McMullan has earned the 2009 ABCA/Baseball America Assistant Coach of the Year Award, the ABCA and Baseball America have announced. McMullan helped Virginia win an ACC Championship and reach the College World Series last season.McMullan will be presented his award at an honors luncheon at the national coaches’ convention in Dallas on Jan. 9, 2010.

“Thank you to the ABCA and Baseball America for choosing me as the recipient of the 2009 National Assistant Coach of the Year,” McMullan said. “I believe any time individual awards come a person’s way, it is more about the program they are

McMullan

involved with than about the individual person. This award is about the players and coaches in our program more so than about me. I am very thankful to the players and coaches who have played and coached at The University of Virginia for the sacrifices they have made to make our program amongst the best in college baseball.”

McMullan is starting his seventh season at Virginia and has been a member of head coach Brian O’Connor’s staff since O’Connor was hired prior to the 2004 season. McMullan serves as Virginia’s recruiting coordinator and hitting coach and works defensively with the Cavaliers’ infielders and catchers.

“Kevin is very deserving of this award because of his ability as a recruiter and evaluator of talent, combined with his ability to develop position players at the college level,” O’Connor said. “As our recruiting coordinator, Kevin has continued to bring in outstanding players who are the right fit for The University of Virginia.

“One of the most important reasons for our continued success at UVA has been the loyalty and commitment of our assistant coaches. Kevin has been 100 percent dedicated to the players in our program for the last six years. His everyday interaction with our players and assistance in their development is what separates Kevin from other coaches. He is completely committed to helping our players reach their potential.”

UVA Head Coach Brian O'Connor

The Cavaliers went 49-15-1 last season and played in the College World Series for the first time in program history. As a team, Virginia hit .327 and had a .972 fielding percentage last season – each total ranks as the third-best mark in UVa history.

The Cavaliers exploded offensively in 2009, leading the ACC in batting (.327) and setting six offensive team records, including hits (767), runs (507), doubles (138), triples (28), RBI (486) and at bats (2343). UVa had a school-record five players earn first-team All-ACC honors, while utility Danny Hultzen and outfielder Jarrett Parker each gleaned All-America laurels. Hultzen also was named the ACC Freshman of the Year, while Parker set the Virginia single-season records in runs (75), hits (94) and total bases (176) and tied the record for triples (7).

In his six years at Virginia, McMullan has helped guide Virginia to 265 wins – by far the most wins ever at Virginia over a six-year period and an average of 44 wins per season. Virginia also has earned six-consecutive NCAA tournament appearances as well as three No. 1 seeds. The NCAA appearances culminated in the Cavaliers’ first-ever appearance in the College World Series in 2009.

Thirteen of his Virginia position players have been selected in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft, including Ryan Zimmerman (Washington Nationals), Mark Reynolds (Arizona Diamondbacks) and Joe Koshansky (Colorado Rockies) – all of whom have already made their MLB debuts.

Zimmerman took just two months to jump to the major leagues and was selected as a National League All-Star in 2009, becoming the first former Cavalier to appear in the MLB All-Star Game. Reynolds and Koshansky each made their big league debuts in 2007.

McMullan has been instrumental in landing the most highly-touted recruiting classes to sign with Virginia. The 2004 class was ranked 12th nationally, while the 2005 class rated 10th, the 2006 group eighth, the 2007 class 13th, the 2008 group 14th and the 2009 class ninth.

Defensively, the Cavaliers have shined under McMullan. Five of the six teams have ranked among the nation’s top 40 in fielding percentage, with a program-record .975 mark (seventh nationally) in 2005.

(Press Release)

VMI Head Coach Marlin Ikenberry

Highlights of the home schedule include visits from 2009 College World Series participant Virginia (April 14), along with in-state rivals Virginia Tech (April 27), Longwood (April 6), James Madison (April 7), Richmond (May 11) and VCU (May 19).  Also included will be Big South matchups against Coastal Carolina (April 23-25), Winthrop (May 14-16), Radford (April 30-May 2), Charleston Southern (March 26-28) and Presbyterian College (May 20-22).
Complete 2010 VMI Schedule
The schedule kicks off on Friday, Feb. 19, when Bucknell comes to town for a three-game set.  That series will be followed by the VMI’s only road trip of the season’s first month, taking on Richmond at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 23.  Home series against Lafayette (Feb. 26-28), Maryland-Eastern Shore (March 5-7) and La Salle (March 11-14) follow, with a visit from Bryant also included (March 8) in the mix.

The Keydets hit the road over Spring Break in mid-March, traveling south for a two-game showdown against military rivals, The Citadel (March 16-17).  It will mark the first time that VMI has played a member of the Southern Conference since leaving the league following the 2003 season.

The trip then continues to High Point, as the Keydets will open Big South play against the Panthers for the second time in three seasons, coming March 19-21.  A road game at James Madison ends the six-game road stretch on March 24, capping VMI’s longest road swing of the season.

VMI returns home for a Big South series against Charleston Southern, marking VMI’s lone home Big South weekend among their first five conference series.  The Keydets hit the road again following that series, heading to Blacksburg for a March 30 matchup versus the Hokies before traveling to Asheville, N.C. for a conference weekend against UNC Asheville (April 2-3).

Following home games against Longwood and James Madison, the team heads to Gardner-Webb for the first time in program history on April 9-11 after knocking the Bulldogs out of the Big South Championship last season.  That trip will mark VMI’s last regular season venture outside the Commonwealth, as each of VMI’s final 22 games will be played either at home or at in-state foes.

The Cavaliers pay a visit to Gray-Minor Stadium on Wednesday, April 14.  It will mark the first time Virginia has played in Lexington since April 3, 2007, when the Keydets knocked off a third-ranked Cavs’ squad, 5-2, in front of 1,265 fans.  VMI then hits the road for four games, including a conference series at Liberty (April 16-18) and a trip to William & Mary on April 21.

The home stretch literally begins from there, as the Keydets will play not only their final four conference series of the season at home, but overall will finish the regular season with 15 of their final 17 contests at the friendly confines of Gray-Minor Stadium.  Coastal Carolina kicks things off before a visit from Virginia Tech on Tuesday, April 27.  A quick trip to Richmond for an April 28 date against VCU at The Diamond precedes a seven-game home stand for VMI, including dates against Radford, Richmond and Winthrop.

The regular season’s final week begins with a visit to Charlottesville to take on Virginia May 18, while the Keydets return home the next evening against VCU in VMI’s final non-conference tilt.  Presbyterian College wraps up its season on May 20-22, playing a three-game set in Lexington.

The 2010 Big South Baseball Championship will be held in Rock Hill, S.C. on May 25-29 and will be hosted by Winthrop.

(Press Release)

UVA Baseball to Hold Celebration of 2009 Team