The Miami Herald from Miami, Florida • 34

I FRIDAY FEBRUARY 3 1989 4L THE MIAMI HERALD SPORTS WEEKEND UM light on experience not optiiu RBI last year Noriega had very fall Fraser said but hit 301 as a freshman and was rookie of the year Hinde hit 387 with 25 homers and 95 RBI in two years at Brevard Community College Borgese a San Jose City College transfer hit 401 last year and was drafted in the 21st round by the Blue Jays If not playing second Tosar might play here Designated hitter Fraser will rotate Senior Will Vespe one of top four pitchers and a possible left fielder is likely to spend the most time in this spot Tosar and Sharts also will do some designated hitting as will Fernandez a freshman starting pitcher who also may see some time in left out of the dirt And smiling The power-hitting outfielders were fine-tuning their bunting skills And laughing The infielders were working on getting a jump when stealing And having fun Fraserball The Hurricanes will open the 1989 season at 7:30 tonight against the University of Central Florida at Mark Light Stadium which will be lighted this time wait to see the Fraser said lights Lots of people Pitchers Joe Grahe and Alex Fernandez Wow Pretty exciting Defense and pitching will be team strengths youth a weakness Only three projected starters have started more than all year to start Trujillo was an offensive disappointment last year hitting just 257 Fraser is high on Tosar of Columbus High Shortstop Junior FP Santangelo is a lock Small and speedy he hit 387 last year with 47 stolen bases in 59 tries at Sacramento City College Third base Dulom a senior is likely to start based on experience but sophomore Chris Anderson has impressed Dulom hit 355 in 1987 before missing last year for academic reasons Outfield Senior John Viera will start in center and sophomore Rey Noriega will be in right Juniors Mike Hinde and Jeff Bor-gese will battle in left Viera strong defensively hit 269 with eight homers and 38 By DAN LEBATARD Herald Writer As the sun dropped behind the outfield fence at a recent University of Miami baseball practice the Mark Light Stadium lights come on So the Hurricanes did the only logical thing They kept practicing It was about 6 pm so darkness completely engulfed the field but the players allowed to stop not that they wanted to you understand UM Coach Ron Fraser knowing that real aficionados played the game before the invention of lights sat in the dugout as his players kidded laughed and went about their learmng The first basemen hitting being their first love were working on scooping the ball one year at UM and one of those Kirk Du-lom play last year have a lot of guys with speed but we have a lot of guys who familiar with our Fraser said a position-by-position look at this team: Catcher Junior Christopher Hirsch is the front-runner for the starting job Hirsch a defensive specialist started just seven games last year behind Frank Dominguez First base Senior Henry Hernandez exceptional defensively but suspect offensively should start tonight but a brief offensive lapse and freshmen Jorge Fabregas and Scott Sharts could grab the job Second base Senior Jose Trujillo and sophomore Mike Tosar are likely to battle BMP JON KRAL Miami Herald Staff Joe Grahe 21 6-1 196-pound right-hander from Palm Beach Gardens Was ace last year finishing 13-5 and in all-time top 10 in 1 1 pitching categories Collects stamps coins and baseball cards Drafted in fifth round by Oakland Athletics last year Alex Fernandez 19 5-11 214-pound freshman from Hialeah Three-time Dade County Class 2A player of year at Pace High Hit 542 with 10 HRs and 53 RBI at Pace Averaged 86 strikeouts per seven-inning game in high school Will be used in outfield and at DH Greg Knowles 19 6-3 192-pound righthander from Plantation Opened last season by throwing 211 innings without a walk Finished 9-2 Majoring in accounting and advertising fond of facing Florida State SemiKnowles has a career ERA of 4950 vs FSU Will Vespe 22 6-3 198-pound right-hander from Haddonfield NJ 5-1 last year An out standing outfielder and solid DH (297 six HRs in 4-1 record with 217 ERA this past summer in Cape Cod League Brother Brad is walk-on special teams player on UM football team Staff aims to be tops in the country to start this season similar to the way he ended the last one In the final postseason game Vespe held eventual national champion Stanford to just one run in nine innings before losing on an error in the 10th Vespe 22 is the only married Hurricane thus making him the only UM player who has more responsibility at home than on the field He and wife Debbie have two children Will Jr 6 is a fixture at practices and Kelly slates him to be the ace of the staff around 2003 The Hurricanes and Gators are in a recruiting battle for Brittany 1 No kid gloves are used when on the mound have to credit Brad Kelley for how good this staff Vespe said practice put runners on second and third with no outs and send up the best hitters He forces you to have an aggressive hard-nosed attitude If you have that you pitch The key to 1989 season is keeping the other parts of his body as healthy as his arm Last ankle injury stopped the first pitching roll he had been on since arriving at UM healthy I know I can beat Vespe said was really looking forward to last year before I got injured Now my last year and I have something to Fernandez: Wins will continue In Fernandez the Hurricanes have the Milwaukee first-round pick from last year Fernandez is the first high school player to turn down first-round money since 1979 have Grahe and Fernandez is a real big surprise because guys like that usually go Fraser said would have had a pretty good staff without them but with them Fernandez said he is a better than he was in high school That said it should be noted that Fernandez was 14-0 with a 066 ERA his senior year and during his career threw a state-record seven no-hitters Fernandez said am going to be as successful as I was in high The reason Fernandez says he is better is because Kelley has taught him a changeup to go with his fastball Fernandez calls the changeup best pitch in and adds that it will be even more effective for him because he has added a few miles per hour to his high school heat He been timed recently but in the past he has been clocked at more than 90 miles per hour high school you can blow people Fernandez said do that here Well I can still blow people away but I do it every How much potential does Fernandez have? Fraser had been saying he want to him to the and would use Fernandez as a reliever early in the season But earlier this week Fraser announced Fernandez will start the third game against Central Florida Sunday Regardless of the results Fraser will have plenty of options given the talent on the staff what makes us so good Fernandez said think our pitching staff can win a national championship If we develop the way we should have the best pitching staff in college baseball By PITCHERS from IE who won nine games as a freshman Knowles or one that lost only four games over four The fortunate one who has the task of molding them into a staff is pitching coach Brad Kelley do have at least four guys who can be the No 1 or No 2 pitcher for any team in the Kelley said In Grahe the Hurricanes have a leader the teacher who gets his message across to the younger players with curves more than words Grahe a Palm Beach Gardens native went 13-5 last year with a 291 eamed-run average He averaged 83 strikeouts per nine innings and broke the season school records for innings pitched (167) and complete games (ID- is borderline nasty when he Kelley said got to be mean intimidating got a reputation and now he has to do something to keep The words nasty mean and intimidating also can be equated to negotiating style The Oakland Athletics made him a fifth-round selection last year but Grahe refused the offer on the premise that better than fifth-round material Grahe had to impress the with the way he single-handedly (single-armedly?) carried the Hurricanes to the College World Series by winning two games and saving the other in three regional games felt like I sort of carried the load last year because the relief pitching broke said Grahe who has a big collection of stamps coins baseball cards and 0s the people we have this year it would be a crime if that happened again Unless you are Orel Hershis-er one man carry a Grahe made Collegiate pre-season All-American team one of five starting pitchers selected and the only Hurricane honored Knowles: In good company In Knowles the Hurricanes have a surprisingly seasoned sophomore Last season the Plantation native became the solid No 2 starter the reason being he give up walks The somewhat introverted Knowles who would rather talk about his team than his talent quietly became the only UM pitcher to win a game at the College World Series where the Hurricanes finished tied for fifth Knowles who just turned 19 was voted a freshman All-American by Baseball America while going 9-2 with a 341 ERA The nine victories broke the school record for a freshman held by a pretty decent pitcher: Neal Heaton now with the Montreal Expos had an exceptional year last said Fraser who usually refrains from using such words was a big surprise and he can get Vespe: Please no more injuries In Vespe the Hurricanes have a pitcher who one day can dominate elite teams like Texas and Stanford (as he did last year) and then just a few days later get shelled by teams like Really Bad Tech A power pitcher who was drafted by the Minnesota Twins last year Vespe would like TICKETS For most games cost $4 for adults $2 for seniors (over 60) and children (under 12) Tickets will cost an additional $1 for Florida Florida State and an exhibition vs the Baltimore Orioles March 14 at Mark Light Stadium Season tickets are $60 for adult general admission $40 for seniors or youth general admission and $200 for chair-back reserved (only a limited number are available) A family pack of season tickets (for two adults and three children) costs $95 Tickets are available at the Hecht Athletic Center or by calling 284-2655 or (800) GO-CANES OVERALL The Hurricanes are 1 269-525-15 (705) in 43 years COACH RON RECORD 1 069-380-9 (736) over 26 years at Miami Baseball America ESPNCollegiate Baseball No school Rttord Prtvloui 1 Stanford 44-23 1 2 Miami 52-14-1 5 3 Florida State 50-1S-1 15 4 Fresno State 56-12 7 5 Oklahoma State 61-0 9 Texas 58-1 1-1 10 7 Fullerton State 43-18 3 8 Georgia Tech 45-24 29 9 Florida 48-19-1 6 10 Arizona State 60-13 11 Wichita State 56-16-1 4 12 Mississippi State 44 20 13 Texas A8M 52-15 11 14 Louisiana State 39-21 mid 15 Clemson 54-14 21 16 South Carolina 43-21 17 17 Pepperdine 37-24-1 12 18 Oklahoma 45-21 24 19 Arizona 33-26 nd 20 Arkansas 39-23 NR Rankings based on poll of coaches jLMiilmJiimi r- iTfiLRffbu fw Ken 4 411 1.