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FLORIDA SWEEPS MIAMI

Alex Panteliodis had 12 Ks in Friday's 7-2 Gator win.

The Florida Gators became the first team to clinch a spot in the 2010 College World Series with their 2-0 Super Regional sweep of Miami in Gainesville, FL.  Click the links below for more details on the two series wins.

Florida next faces either UCLA or Cal State Fullerton in its first CWS appearance since 2005.

By clicking the “Gainesville Super Regional” link above this page will expand to fully support the table below.

CLICK HERE for our Super Regional Central page where you will find links to other Super Regionals.

Best two of three series (all times Eastern)

Friday - FINAL: Florida 7, Miami 2 | Final Stats
UF Recap | MIA Recap *Florida leads series 1-0
* Highlight: Alex Panteliodis has 12 K in 9 IP for first career CG

Saturday – FINAL: Florida 4, Miami 3 |  Final Stats
FLA Recap | MIA Recap

* Florida wins series (2-0)

Podcast with Florida’s Tyler Thompson

The Skinny

Florida: (#3 National Seed) Now in his third season as head coach, Kevin O’Sullivan’s Gators are hosting a Super Regional for the second straight season.  Last year’s is one Florida would just as soon forget.  Southern Mississippi swept two games from the Gators at McKethan Stadium to advance to Omaha.  All four of the program’s Super Regional appearances have come in the last seven years.

Freshman Brian Johnson is one of the top two-way players in the country, and his play in the Gainesville Regional showed it.  Johnson is 6-4 with a 3.67 ERA on the mound to go with a .411 average, 4 HR and 16 RBIs in 24 starts as a DH this season.  The Gator’s don’t have any eye-popping offensive numbers, but they do everything very well.  Matt den Dekker leads the team with a .361 average and 23 stolen bases to go along with 13 HR, Austin Maddox has team highs with 17 HR and 68 RBIs and Preston Tucker plucks along with .345/11 HR/48 RBI numbers.

Florida is one of three Super Regional teams whose pitching staff has no complete games this season.  Alex Panteliodis (10-2, 3.39 ERA) is the front man in the rotation, while Kevin Chapman (3-0, 1.28 ERA, 11 SVs) leads a group of five relievers who have at least one save (including a handful of the 3 inning variety) in 2010.

Miami: The Hurricanes are making their NCAA record 38th straight NCAA Tournament appearance.  They have made it to Omaha in 11 of Jim Morris’ 16 seasons as head coach, including most recently in 2008.  Their season ended last year in Gainesville when they lost to Florida in the Regional championship game.

Catcher Yasmani Grandal (.411/14/58) is the team’s top overall hitter.  He sports a 1.267 OPS.  Harold Martinez’s 21 HR leads the team, while Stephen Perez and Zeke DeVoss each have 24 stolen bases.  With 104 home runs and 103 stolen bases he Hurricanes are one of two teams in the Super Regional field (along with Coastal Carolina) that have topped the century mark in both categories.

Chris Hernandez (10-3, 2.77 ERA) is Miami’s top starter.  Seven other pitchers have combined to make the other 44 starts, including David Gutierrez (5-2, 5.12 ERA) who has five saves and has also made eight starts.  Daniel Miranda (5-2, 3.35 ERA, 5 SVs) leads the team with 33 relief appearances.

Gainesville Super Regional

TEAM	RECORD	CONF.	BA	Runs/ Gm.	HR	Slg%	OBP	SB-Att.	Fld%	ERA	CG	SV	K	BB	Opp. BA
Florida	45-15	SEC	.303	7.0	80	.487	.384	92-125	.978	4.02	0	17	421	129	.272
Miami	43-18	ACC	.298	7.7	104	.523	.393	103-132	.969	3.75	1	12	542	200	.246

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Stanford’s Kaskow, SC ace Cooper Lead Primtime Honors …

Stanford jr. 1B Jonathon Kaskow

CLICK HERE for archive of previous CB360 Primetime award winners (scroll down for earlier weeks).

South Carolina sr. RHP Blake Cooper

Kaskow has been named the national Primetime Player of the Week and Cooper is the Primetime Pitcher of the Week, while 15 others join them in comprising the Primetime Performer Weekly Honor Roll (as selected by CollegeBaseball360.com). Cooper delivered a 4-hit shutout in the series opener vs. Mississippi (#20 in the CB360 Composite National Rankings), countering a strong outing by Ole Moss ace Drew Pomeranz – while Kaskow reached base 10 times and drove in/scored 10 runs during the Cardinal’s series sweep at #14 Oregon State.

COOPER delivered in the clutch versus the Rebels, sending South Carolina on to the series win and a spot among the Southeastern Conference leaders. The 5-10, 180-pound righthander racked up a career-high 10 strikeouts in the 5-0 win over Ole Miss and issued only one walk over the course of his fifth career complete game. It marked the first complete game shutout by a South Carolina pitcher since May 13, 2005 (when Aaron Rawl also posted a noteworthy win over Ole Miss, 2-0).

Blake Cooper's 4-hitter countered 7.0 shutout innings from Ole Miss ace Drew Pomeranz, in South Carolina's 5-0 series opener (photo courtesy of South Carolina).

After working out of a bases-loaded jam to open the game, Cooper settled down and posted four 1-2-3 innings (3rd-5th, 7th) to keep the Rebels at bay. A pair of infield errors allowed the first two batters to reach in the 6th, but Cooper quickly responded with a strikeout and double-play groundball to end the threat.

CLICK HERE to listen to an exclusive podcast interview with Cooper.

The SEC co-lead in victories this season (7-0; giving him28 career wins), Cooper owns a 2.44 season ERA and a lowly .185 opponent batting average, along with a 2.7 K-to-walk ratio (57/21) and 40 hits allowed in 62.2 innings.

KASKOW delivered from his cleanup spot throughout the past week, posting multiple hits in all four games (14-0 vs. Santa Clara; 14-6/5-3 in 10/10-7 at Oregon State) as Stanford gave its NCAA Tournament hopes a major bolt. The imposing 6-4, 225-pound righthanded hitter batted .625 during the week (10-for-16; 8 RBI), including a 7-for-12 effort in the OSU series, with five RBI, five runs, a home run, double and three walks.

Currently the Pacific-10 Conference leader in league batting avg. (.500), Kaskow smacked his first home run of the season and had 4 RBI in the opener vs. Oregon State, followed by a 2-hit game in the series clincher and three more hits in the finale. Stanford entered last week barely over .500 (14-13), with only a 4-5 mark in Pac-10 play (now 18-13/7-5).

Stanford cleanup batter Jonathan Kaskow reached base 10 times and factored into 10 runs, during the Cardinal's series sweep at #10 Oregon State (photo courtesy of Stanford).

(note: additional action photos for some of the other honorees on this page may be added later today)

Primetime Performer Award Criteria
• Must have been playing for or against a CB360 top-50 team (in the Composite National Rankings) or performed a high level in a game that could be key to a team’s conference/NCAA postseason qualification.
• Involved in clutch performances, such as late game-winning hits, noteworthy comebacks, game-changing plays, team leadership, key defensive efforts, etc.
• Performing at a top level against a team rated highly nationally (or within its conference), with bonus consideration given for key performances away from home field and vs. traditional rivals.
• Overcoming adversity or extreme circumstances (for the team and/or individual).
• Any accomplishment that is rare, historic, record-setting, etc., on a national level.

The other 15 members of the CB360 Primetime Performer Weekly Honor Roll include: Texas Tech fr. 1B Barrett Barnes (Sugarland, Texas) … Arkansas so. 2B Bo Bigham (Texarkansa, Ark.) … Southeastern Louisiana so. SS Justin Boudreaux (Prairieville, La.) … Georgia Tech jr. RF Chase Burnette (Buford, Ga.) … Univ. of the Pacific so. CF Brett Christopher (Livermore, Calif.) … LSU so. 3B Grant Dozar (Morgan City,  La.) … Texas jr. RHP Cole Green (Coppell, Texas) … Miami sr. RHP David Gutierrez (Miami, Fla.) … Arizona fr. RHP Kurt Heyer (Huntington Beach, Calif.) … Vanderbilt jr. RHP Taylor Hill (Old Hickory, Tenn.) … Auburn so. LHP Cory Luckie (Prattville, Ala.) … Florida Atlantic jr. RF/RHP Andy Mee (Palm Beach, Fla.) … Oregon sr. OF Curtis Raukinaitis (Sacramento, Calif.) … Liberty so. SS Matt Williams (Franklin, Tenn.) … and Ohio State jr. RHP Alex Wimmers (Cincinnati, Ohio).

The 17 honorees include nine pitchers (one of them a LHP and one a two-way player), along with two first basemen, a second baseman, shortstop, third baseman, centerfielder and rightfielder (plus a player who had stints at all three outfield spots during the past week). The selections feature three seniors, six juniors, five sophomores and three freshmen. The honorees hail from 11 different home states, led by three each from California and Texas, and two each from Florida, Louisiana and Tennessee, plus players from Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Ohio and South Carolina.

PRIMETIME PERFORMERS WEEKLY HONOR ROLL#9 (April 20, 2010)

(presented by CollegeBaseball360.com)

“It’s not so much what you do, as it is when you do it.”

Player (Pos.) … School … Yr. … Hometown … Stats & Notes
Barrett Barnes (1B) … Texas Tech … Fr. … Sugarland, TX
Hit .500 in series and homered in both wins vs. #19 Oklahoma (1-12/7-3/8-3), as Red Raiders moved into 3rd place in Big 12 (6-12, 3RBI-3R-2B-BB)

Bo Bigham (2B) … Arkansas … So. … Texarkansa, AR
2-hole batter who offset subpar week by team’s top hitters, in 5-game stretch vs. #34 New Mexico (4-3 in 11/5-4) and SEC rival Georgia (10-2/10-2/13-5); hit 11-20 during week and scored 6 times (once in extra-innings), also 2RBI-2BB-SB-SAC

Justin Boudreaux (SS) … Southeastern Louisiana … So. … Prairieville, LA
Homered twice (5RBI) from 2-hole in key Southland Conf. series-clinching win vs. #37 Texas State (10-1/10-12 in 11/9-6); hit 6-14 with 9 RBI in series (3R-SB-SAC)

Chase Burnette (RF) … Georgia Tech … Jr. … Buford, GA
Helped rout in-state rival Georgia (25-6) and then sweep #16 Clemson (8-6 in 10/4-3/11-3) as Tech remained atop ACC; his HR from 6-hole won opener, then 2B & scored go-ahead run in 7th inn. of gm-2; factored into 8 runs during week (4RBI-5R-HR-2B-BB-2 SB-SF)

Brett Christopher (CF) … Univ. of the Pacific … So. … Livermore, CA
Played lead role in series win at #33 UC Irvine (2-4/7-4/7-2), as UOP jumped into race for BIG WEST title; 2-hole hitter’s strong all-around series included batting 4-9 with 6RBI, 4 sac-bunts & 3 extra-base hits (3B-2 2B-R)

Blake Cooper (RHP) … South Carolina … Sr. … Neeses, SC
Tossed 4-hit shutout (5-0) to beat #20 Mississippi in opener, with career-high 10 Ks and only one walk as SC went on to win series; countered strong outing by Ole Miss ace Drew Pomeranz (7IP-2H-4BB-10K)

Grant Dozar (3B) … LSU … So. … Morgan City,  LA
8-hole batter who had game-tying single in 9th and then homered in 14th to win series-sweeping game vs. #26 Alabama (12-5/9-7/6-5); went 2-2 (RBI-R) with 2 walks in opener vs. Tide (SB)

Cole Green (RHP) … Texas … Jr. … Coppell, TX
Crafted 1-hit shutout to beat #32 Texas A&M (14-0) in gm-2 or road sweep vs. rival Aggies (3BB-4K-32BF)

David Gutierrez (RHP) … Miami … Sr. … Miami, FL
Logged 7.0 “perfect-game” innings (21BF,  7Ks) vs. potent Florida Gulf Coast offense (.339 team batting avg.; nearly 9 runs/gm) before leaving due to pitch-count (84); Miami bullpen allowed 1H in 9-0 win

Kurt Heyer (RHP) … Arizona … Fr. … Huntington Beach, CA
Rookie who racked up 14 Ks and ended one out shy of complete game in 5-3 series-opening win at #44 Washington State (5-3; 8.2IP-3R/2ER-4H-BB)

Taylor Hill (RHP) … Vanderbilt … Jr. … Old Hickory, TN
Game-3 starter who turned in near-complete game in 3-2 finale,helping win series vs. #24 Auburn (8.2IP-2R-7H-7K)

Jonathan Kaskow (1B) … Stanford … Jr. … Coppell, TX
Cleanup hitter who Reached base 10 times and drove in/scored 10 runs, during huge Pac-10 sweep (14-6/5-3 in 10 inn./10-7) at #14 Oregon State (7-12; 5RBI-5R-HR-2B-3 BB)

Cory Luckie (LHP) … Auburn … So. … Prattville, AL
Delivered series-tying complete game at #21 Vanderbilt (12-2; 5H-2BB-3K-33BF-115 pitches)

Andy Mee (RF/RHP) … Florida Atlantic … Jr. … Palm Beach, FL
3-hole hitter who paced huge Sunbelt Conference sweep of #18 Western Kentucky (10-3/5-4/9-8), batting 8-13 while factoring into 9 runs (6RBI-4R-HR-2 2B-BB-SF); also saved series finale

Curtis Raukinaitis (OF) … Oregon … Sr. … Sacramento, CA
Delivered key offensive plays from #9 spot, as Ducks won Pac-10 series at #2 UCLA (5-4/8-4/1-5); had 4RBI-HR-3B in series clincher (2RBI in 1-run opener)

Matt Williams (SS) … Liberty … So. … Franklin, TN
5-hole batter who hit .500 (7-14) and played error-free in Big South Conference sweep of #42 VMI (12-9/9-6/13-8), which was coming off upset of #3 Virginia; factored into 10 runs vs. VMI (6RBI-4R-3B-2B-BB-SB)

Alex Wimmers (RHP) … Ohio State … Jr. … Cincinnati, OH
Opened key Big Ten road series with dominating win at #48 Michigan State (10-1; 8IP-R-7H-2BB-7K)

* – Kascow is the CB360 Primetime Player of the Week and Cooper the Primetime Pitcher of the Week … note that rankings above refer to the CB360 top-50 … class years are based on academic standing (some players may have an extra year of eligibility)

Miami Head Coach Jim Morris

Hurricanes Complete 9-inn Scrimmage At Alex Rodriguez Park

CORAL GABLES, Fla. - The University of Miami baseball team officially opened fall practice Thursday afternoon, holding a nine-inning intrasquad scrimmage at Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field. The Hurricanes – coming off an NCAA record 37th straight trip to NCAA Regionals in 2009 – enter the fall with a 35-man roster consisting of 21 returning players and 14 newcomers.

“We are excited,” head coach Jim Morris said prior to the start of practice. “We have some holes to fill from the number of players we’ve lost the last few years from our 2008 World Series team but I think we have a talented group heading into the fall.”

After stretching and working through some individual drills, the team spent the rest of the afternoon scrimmaging under clear skies and temperatures in the mid-to-upper 80’s.

“We have a lot of work ahead of us but we have a lot of good, young players,” Morris said. “We have proven that we can go to Omaha with young players or old players so our goals are very high for this club.”

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.

Erickson re-joins a pitching staff that returns 84 percent of its innings pitched from last season (446 of 531). All three 2009 weekend starters (Hernandez, David Gutierrez and Iden Nazario) are back, in addition to mid-week starter Jason Santana, veteran reliever Michael Rudman and an impressive sophomore class that includes Daniel Miranda, Travis Miller and Sam Robinson. Taylor Wulf – UM’s set-up man to All-America closer Kyle Bellamy last year – also returns to the back end of the bullpen after missing the second half of the 2009 campaign.

Five players return from the starting lineup. Grandal – a 2009 USA National Team member – will enter the 2010 season as one of the nation’s top catchers after hitting a team-high 16 home runs in 2009. Second baseman Lawson is back for his senior year after leading the team in hitting most of last season while sophomores Harold Martinez, Nathan Melendres and Ted Blackman are all back after productive rookie seasons.

The staff has high hopes for the 13-man incoming class that includes six players selected over the summer in the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft. South Florida products Stephen Perez (18th round/Cincinnati Reds) – a switch-hitting infielder out of Gulliver Prep – and E.J. Encinosa (23rd round/Minnesota Twins) – a big right-handed pitcher out of Coral Park High School – headline the group of six draftees in the group.

In total, the incoming class includes 12 players from the state of Florida and eight from South Florida. The group is made up of five infielders, three left-handed pitchers, three right-handed pitchers and two outfielders.

The entire 2009 fall roster consists of six seniors, five juniors, 11 sophomores and 13 freshmen.

With UM’s fall break beginning on Friday, the team will hold a morning practice in lieu of its typical late afternoon session.

(Press Release)