Miami Opens ACC Play Hosting Georgia Tech

The Miami Hurricanes will begin ACC Play by hosting Georgia Tech this season in a three game series at Mark Light stadium. The Hurricanes are off to their worst start in over 60 years with a 4-8 record.

The Hurricanes problem has been an atrocious offense. Their .172 batting average is 294th out of 295 teams nationally. Only some school known as the New York Institute of Technology is below them at .170.

The Hurricanes are also 279th in runs scored with 30 in 12 games. Every team that is below them has played less games, most significantly more so. The 16th ranked Yellow Jackets enter the ACC season opening series at 9-2.

Georgia Tech is coming off of a Tuesday night rainout against Kennesaw State and having won two of three in last weekend’s series against Belmont. This is the Yellow Jackets first series away from home this season. They did win 10-3 at Georgia Southern in their fourth game of the season.

Georgia Tech’s offense is among the best in the country. Their .339 team batting average is tenth in the country, their 22 home runs ranks fourth, .583 slugging percentage is second and their .409 on-base percentage is 38th.

Eight different players have hit home runs. They are led by Joey Bart who is hitting .447 with seven home runs, 19 RBIs and a .957 slugging percentage. Kel Johnson is hitting .348 with six home runs, 20 RBis and a .784 slugging percentage.

Bart is tied for second nationally in home runs and Johnson is tied for fifth. They also rank among the national leaders in RBIs. Johnson is fifth and Bart sixth in RBIs per game. Two other Yellow Jackets average over an RBI per game. This lineup is deep and productive.

Georgia Tech is more than just their offensive prowess. Friday night starter Xzavion Curry and reliver Jared Datoc are tied tied for fourth nationally in victories with three each.

Curry and Miami’s Ace Jesse Lapore should be a good battle on Friday night. Lapore is 1-2 with a 0.90 Earned Run average this season. He has lost his last two starts 1-0.

Curry enters the game 3-0 with a 1.69 ERA in three starts. He has a .232 opponent batting average against and a 1.12 WHIP with 17 strikeouts in six innings. The Hurricanes bats will have a significant challenge to awaken in game one.

GATech throws Jonathan Hughes in game two Saturday night. Hughes is 1-0 with a 2.25 ERA. He has a .167 batting average against, 1.08 WHIP and 13 strikeouts in 12 innings.

More from Canes Warning

Jake Lee goes on Sunday for GA.T. He will be making his first start of the season. Lee has a 7.50 ERA in seven innings this year.

Miami will counter with their usual Saturday-Sunday combo of Jeb Bargfeldt and Michael Mediavilla. Bargfeldt has made a nice transition from junior college. He is 1-1 with a 2.55 ERA in three starts this season.

Mediavilla who was an All-American candidate in the pre-season has struggled. The Hurricanes have lost all three of his starts and he has a 5.54 ERA.

He has not gotten a lot of support behind him. After Miami won the first two games of the season against Rutgers they committed six errors in the third game, Mediavilla’s first start of the season.

All three games against Georgia Tech will be live streamed on ACC Network extra. WVUM 90.5 will air all three games of the series and the final game will be broadcast on WQAM 560.

Next: NCAA Bracketlogy: Five Teams Miami Hurricanes are Most Likely to Play

Next Up: The Hurricanes host Maine in a two game midweek series at Mark Light Field before playing seven of their next eight on the road. The Black Bears are 6-7 on the season.

Home/Miami Hurricanes Baseball