Miami baseball hopes to continue impressive play at Virginia

The Miami baseball team heads to Charlottesville this weekend with wins in four of their last five games. They also have a two series ACC winning streak on the line at Virginia this weekend.

Virginia is not as good as they had been in recent years. The Cavaliers missed the NCAA Tournament last season for the first time since 2003. The Miami baseball team is hoping to get back to the NCAA Tournament after missing the last two that broke a 44-year streak of NCAA Tournament appearances.

Virginia enters the weekend 21-13 overall and 8-7 in the ACC a half-game ahead of Miami in the ACC Coastal Division. The Cavaliers enter the weekend having won five of their last six. Virginia won two out of three at Notre Dame last weekend. There could be a lot of runs this weekend. Miami and UVA are the ACC’s top two hitting teams.

Miami enters the weekend batting .301 and Virginia is hitting .294. The Hurricanes hit for a lot more power than the Cavaliers. Miami is second in the ACC one behind Wake Forest with 45 home runs. Virginia 13th out of 14 teams with 18 home runs. The Cavaliers rank fifth in the ACC in runs scored with 237.

Miami is third in the conference with 253 runs scored. The Hurricanes are also second in slugging percentage and third in on-base percentage while Virginia is in the middle of the pack on both. Miami’s pitching has been erratic this season. Evan McKendry and Chris McMahon were exceptional last week against Florida State.

The right-handed starters led the way as the Hurricanes shut out the Seminoles with 11-0 and 4-0 victories in the first two games of the series. Florida State salvaged the series with a 6-5 win on Sunday. Slade Cecconi gave Miami another excellent start on Wednesday night in a 10-1 victory at Florida Gulf Coast.

"SERIES INFORMATIONDates: Friday, April 12, 2019 – Sunday, April 14, 2019Game Times (ET): 6:00 p.m. | 4:00 p.m. | 1:00 p.m.Site: Charlottesville, Va. | Davenport Field (5,074)MIAMI HURRICANES (22-12, 7-8 ACC)Head Coach: Gino DiMare (Miami, 1992)Career Division I Record: 22-12 (first season) | Record at Miami: 22-12 (first season)VIRGINIA CAVALIERS (21-13, 8-67 ACC)Head Coach: Brian O’Connor (Creighton, 1993)Career Division I Record: 689-277-2 (16th season) | Record at UVA: 689-277-2 (16th season)VIRGINIA CAVALIERS (21-13, 8-67 ACC)Head Coach: Brian O’Connor (Creighton, 1993)Career Division I Record: 689-277-2 (16th season) | Record at UVA: 689-277-2 (16th season)Series Pitching Matchups:MiamiFriday: JR RHP Evan McKendry (5-1, 3.91 ERA)Saturday: SO RHP Chris McMahon (2-2, 4.53 ERA)Sunday: R-JR RHP Brian Van Belle (4-2, 3.59 ERA)VirginiaFriday: JR RHP Noah Murdock (2-2, 4.40 ERA)Saturday: SO RHP Griff McGarry (2-4, 4.34 ERA)Sunday: FR RHP Mike Vasil (1-3, 4.95 ERA)TV: ACC Network Extra (all home games)Student Radio: WVUM 90.5 FM | WVUM.org (all games)Twitter Updates: @CanesBaseball / @MiamiHurricanesLive Stats: HurricaneSports.comCourtesy HurricaneSports.Com"

The Hurricanes have moved up to 32nd in the RPI with their recent streak of wins. Virginia is 88th. Miami needs to continue winning to keep their momentum towards making the NCAA Tournament. The schedule gets tougher next weekend when Miami travels to Louisville. The Cardinals are 10th in the RPI.

Miami has a favorable schedule other than playing at Louisville. The Hurricanes host Virginia Tech and Duke and travel to Wake Forest. Miami also has five non-conference home games remaining in 2019.