Canes Get Ready To Rumble With Gators

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6:50 pm - UPDATE: Panteliodis will throw for Gators, Guitierrez for Canes.

The big bad Miami Hurricanes have rolled into Gainesville looking to do some stompin'. The Gators play the Canes tonight in Game 1 of the NCAA Baseball Super-regional tournament. It is a best 2 out of 3 series running through Sunday if necessary. The Gator chompin' bunch from up north think they have what it takes to stop the Hurricanes and they are using their series win against the Canes this year as motivation. The Canes however are not worried about what happened earlier in the season and this team is ready to show all it cares about is getting it done today, and then tomorrow. Plus, its the Gators. So you know we are ready to roll.

Lets look at some numbers.

We have to start with the Yahz-Man. Yasmani Grandal that is, ACC player of the year and Johnny Bench Award Finalist.

Grandals numbers are : .411 ba. , 214 at-bats, 88 hits, 24 doubles, 14 HR's, 58 RBI's.

Harold Martinez is our young star in the making at third base. He has an incredible bat. He has also shown potential for greatness defensively at third base. He is a natural shortstop coming out of Braddock High, now a sophomore he has 21 homeruns for the Canes. Harold has also made some of the best plays defensively for the team. Harold's only struggles defensively have come throwing high to first base this year. Offensively he is a near .300 hitter, currently at .298. Harold is a great player now and will be going forward.

Here are Harold's numbers: .298 ba, 238 at-bats,71 hits, 10 doubles, 21 HR's, 69 RBI's.

Michael Broad has been hot for the Canes recently, here are his season numbers: .358 ba., 137 at-bats, 49 hits, 7 doubles 7 HR's ,28 RBI's.

Look for the lineup to be mixed up again tonight with potentially Stephen Perez back at the 1 spot. Perez is a shining young player for the Canes and he is our very talented freshman shortstop. Recently he was moved to the lead-off position in the regional tournament when Zeke Devoss hit a slight slump. Stephen has done well in the lead-off position and he has good speed on the bases.

Scott Lawson and Nathan Melendres are clutch hitters and can be relied on with runners in scoring position. Scott Lawson is coming off his best series of his career last weekend where he knocked 4 homeruns for the Canes. Chris Pelaez has had a good season with a .314 batting average and he has also drove in 53 runs. The Canes can hit, flat out. The end of the season has been a testament to that. The only concern is how sharp the Gators staff will be.

Gators Pitching:

The Gators pitching staff can bring the heat, they have multiple pitchers who throw consistently in the 90's. Hudson Randall and Alex Panteliodis have seen the most work for the Gators. They each have thrown 88 innings, Randall has 63 strikeouts and Panteliodis has 68. The Gators also have Brian Johnson who has thrown 70 innings,struck out 48, and walked only 14 all season. Panteliodis has the most wins on the season posting an impressive 10-2 record.

Gators Hitting:

Matt Den Dekker is batting .361, with 84 hits, 48 RBIs, and 14 HR's.

Preston Tucker is batting .345, with 79 hits , 46 RBI's, and 11 HR's.

Austin Maddox is batting .339 with 83 hits, 68 RBI's, and 17 HR's.

Hurricanes Pitching:

Low pitch count will be key again. We need to force a lot of ground-outs and pop-ups early and get the Gators into a slump. Our staff definitely worked hard in the regional tournament, but now is the time to turn up the focus and dial in. Sam Robinson pitched 5 innings of stellar relief against Texas A&M Tuesday, he should be a factor tomorrow. Tonight EJ Encinosa will need to be on point for the Canes if called on late in the game. Encinosa just received a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American Honor this week. EJ has struck out 61 batters and allowed ony 5 extra-base hits in 49 innings of work.

Grundy, Ewing or Wulf could see time tonight in the 6th, 7th or 8th innings. Our relievers need to watch the early at-bats of the Gators lineup to pick up on anything they can use later. This series will require our relievers to be near perfect.

Our prediction: Canes Win 7-5.