Miami baseball hosts Florida Atlantic in first 2019 midweek game

The Miami Baseball team will play its first midweek game of 2019 when they host Florida Atlantic on Wednesday night. The Hurricanes are coming off of a historic sweep over Rutgers this weekend.

The Miami baseball team outscored Rutgers 35-7 in the three-game sweep over the weekend. The Hurricanes have gotten off to an exceptional start to the Gino DiMare era. DiMare replaced the retiring Jim Morris.

The pitching matchup is a pair of Freshman. Right-hander Slade Cecconi made his collegiate debut on Saturday in a 7-1 victory over Rutgers. Cecconi pitched two scoreless innings allowing two hits and striking out two.

Left-hander Hunter Cooley gets the start for FAU. Cooley pitched 1.1 innings on Saturday and got the win for the Owls over Cincinnati. Cooley allowed two hits and a walk with one strikeout against the Bearcats.

The Miami pitching staff is going to have to be locked in against Florida Atlantic. All 22 FAU runs against Cincinnati came with two outs. The Owls have been on fire at the plate in clutch situations. According to FAUSports.Com:

"“(FAU hit) .310 with runners on base and .467 with runners on and two outs. Further, the Owls hit .357 with runners in scoring position, and .526 with runners in scoring position and two outs.”"

Both teams enter the first of a season-long three game series 3-0. The Owls swept the three games with Miami last season. The Hurricanes will play in Boca Raton March 27 and host the Owls in the final game of the

season series

on April 3.

Miami’s hitting was as hot as FAU’s opening weekend. Four Hurricanes hit over .400 against Rutgers. Miami hit .348 as a team against the Scarlet Knights with a .556 slugging percentage. The Hurricanes had 29 runs batted in on 35 runs scored.

Freshman infielder Anthony Vilar leads Miami with a .636 batting average, 11 total bases and a 1.000 slugging percentage. Adrian DelCastillo, Freddy Zamora and Willy Escala are the other three Hurricanes hitting over .400.

DelCastillo leads Miami with seven RBIs through the first three games of the season. First baseman Alex Toral also looked encouraging after a tough Freshman season in 2018 with home runs on Friday and Saturday and four RBIs.

"Game Information:Date: Wednesday, February 20, 2019Game Time (ET): 6:00 p.m.Site: Coral Gables, Fla. | Mark Light Field (4,999)FAU OWLS (3-0, 0-0 C-USA)Head Coach: John McCormack (Lynn, 1990)Career Division I Record: 363-222-2 (11th season) | Record at FAU: 363-222-2 (11th season)MIAMI HURRICANES (3-0, 0-0 ACC)Head Coach: Gino DiMare (Miami, 1992)Career Division I Record: 3-0 (first season) | Record at Miami: 3-0 (first season)Series History: Miami leads, 51-13Coral Gables: Miami leads, 63-14Boca Raton: Miami leads, 9-4Neutral Site: Miami leads, 1-0First Meeting: March 5, 1982 – Miami won, 18-4Last Meeting: April 4, 2018 – FAU won, 7-4Streak: FAU, three winsBroadcast Information:TV: ACC Network Extra (all home games)Student Radio: WVUM 90.5 FM | WVUM.org (all games)Twitter Updates: @CanesBaseball / @MiamiHurricanesLive Stats: HurricaneSports.comGame Notes courtesy of HurricaneSports.Com"

The Hurricanes have one of their biggest challenges of the 2019 season when they travel North to play number four Florida this weekend. The Gators are 3-1 in 2019. Florida swept Long Beach State over the weekend but lost 6-1 at South Florida on Tuesday. The Gators host North Florida Wednesday night.

Miami lost two out of three to Florida in Coral Gables last season. The Hurricanes scored only seven runs in the three-game series. Evan McKendry who is the Hurricanes likely starter on Friday night shut down the Gators last season. He allowed two hits and two walks with eight strikeouts in eight shutout innings.