Wednesday, April 30, 2008

UM's Hernandez Continues To Impress

UM freshman pitcher Chris Hernandez, 7-0 on the season and boasting a 2.77 ERA, was named ACC Pitcher of the Week on Monday. Last Friday, during UM's 1-0 victory over No. 16 Virginia, Hernandez struck out eleven batters and gave up only two hits in eight shutout innings.

The Canes are 36-5 (20-2 in the ACC) and will face St. Mary's for a weekend series beginning Friday. Canes fans will remember St. Mary's as the victim of a Jack McClinton onslaught in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last month. We'll see if the Gaels can fare better in baseball. My money is on "no", but the Canes have lost to Sun Belt powerhouse FIU (I'm laying the sarcasm on pretty thick this morning) this year, so anything is possible. Starting pitching like that exhibited by Hernandez and Erik Erickson, combined with the unbelievable play all season of super-hitters Blake Tekotte and Yonder Alonso, should propel the Canes this weekend as they look to cap off one of their best regular seasons in school history.

9 comments:

ASponge said...

Amazing that two of those losses are to FAU and FIU.

Anonymous said...

Put it another (astonishing) way: They are 6-1 versus FSU and UVA combined, and just 2-2 against FAU and FIU combined.

I've said before and I'll say again - they play down to their competition, and are their own worst enemy. I say that the team that showed up against FSU and UVA is a more accurate indicator of the team's chances of future postseason success than the team that showed up against FAU and FIU. If they have trouble motivating themselves to play against post-season competition, then they don't deserve to make it very far.

Jay Warman said...

Hey! I am HURT and OFFENDED ... and HURT!

Anonymous said...

Jay, for your sake, when I say "FAU and FIU" in a derogatory conjunction, I only mean FIU.

Jay Warman said...

Thanks e.j. I feel better now. And your right, we aren't that good. But still way better than FIU.

Anonymous said...

I didn't mean to suggest that they aren't that good, just that they should not be competitive with the #1 team in the country. But they were! That is a testament to their talent and moxy (and to the dismissive cockiness of the Canes), and I've come away with an enormous amount of respect for the Owls.

Jay Warman said...

Alrighty then. Wanna be friends?

Anonymous said...

You mean we weren't all this time?!?!

ASponge said...

We're all friends here at The South Florida Fan.

Of course, not everyone can be a Gator.