The Hurricane’s defense put on a show for a crowd of about 4,000 people that came out to Ft. Lauderdale’s Lockhart Field Saturday night.
In Miami’s first open public practice of the spring, D.J. Williams and Sean Taylor both had interceptions and six other players combined for eight sacks during a 58-play scrimmage.
“We came out and set the tone and the tempo from the first series,” senior linebacker Jon Vilma said. “The offense was good. They got a couple plays on us, but I think we did good.”
The defensive success did not help the coaches in figuring out which quarterback will win the right to start. None of the quarterbacks looked particularly strong and no one has separated himself from anyone else during spring practice.
“We have a lot of work to do,” quarterbacks coach Dan Werner said. “We’ve got four guys and nobody is distancing themselves.”
Junior Brock Berlin started the scrimmage with the first team offense because junior Derrick Crudup started in the previous scrimmage.
Berlin struggled for most of the scrimmage, throwing two interceptions and completing just 2 of 8 throws. Berlin did however throw a 41-yard touchdown pass to Roscoe Parrish, who hauled in three receptions for 67 yards.
Of the four quarterbacks, red shirt freshman Mark Guillon may have helped his cause the most in completing 4 of 6 passes for 45 yards and a 23-yard touchdown pass to Tannard Davis.
Crudup completed 3 of 6 passes for 40 yards and freshman Kyle Wright connected on two of his four throws for nine yards in limited action.
The offensive line struggled with holding the defense at bay as sophomores Orien Harris and Javon Nanton, a walk-on, led the way with two sacks apiece. The sack total, however, may have looked inflated because the referees blew the whistle anytime the defense laid a hand on the quarterback.
“That was the only thing that was getting in my head,” Crudup said. “I feel like I would’ve broke some of those tackles…but that’s just the refs blowing the whistle and protecting the quarterbacks.”
The quarterbacks also struggled with the lack of healthy receivers. Former quarterback and linebacker Buck Ortega and walk-on defensive back Tannard Davis played at receiver to compensate for the plethora of injuries.
“It hurts all the quarterbacks a lot with the timing,” Crudup said. “Guys that played defense moved over [to receiver] and they really don’t know how to run routs, so you have to work with what you’ve got.”
Tailback Frank Gore started with the first team and ran for 30 yards on seven attempts. Gore tore the ACL in his right knee a little over a year ago, but he has taken part in full contact drills throughout spring practice.
Quadtrine Hill, last years starting fullback, also looked good running the ball, racking up 33 yards on 10 attempts. Hill has played at both full and tailback during spring practice.
“In my heart I’m a tailback, but whatever’s best for the team is what I’m going to play,” Hill said.
The ‘Canes have three practices this week before the Spring Game at the Orange Bowl on Saturday at 10 a.m.

Nate Johnson can be reached at NPJ44@aol.com

It takes a special player to enter one of the top baseball schools in the nation as a freshman and instantly become one of the best players on the team. That’s exactly what Ryan Braun has done.
Braun is the team leader in almost every offensive category, including batting average, on base percentage, home runs, and runs batted in. He has given the Canes, who were 21-4 entering Sunday’s game against Georgia Tech, some much-needed power in the middle of the lineup.
“As a freshman, he’s hitting 3rd in the lineup,” Head Coach Jim Morris said. “He’s worked hard and he’s a great student. He’s done a great job for us.”
As a freshman Braun faces many new challenges on and off the field. A baseball player at UM must live up to lofty expectations and as a student one has to go through what the typical freshman experiences while adjusting to a new lifestyle. Braun has responded admirably to these demands.
“I expected to come in to this program and for it to be extremely challenging,” Braun said. I think I’ve responded to that challenge well. It’s just a matter of being confident and believing in yourself.”
Braun has had a flare for the dramatic as well. In the clutch, it seems like Braun always delivers and that can be attributed to the confidence that he displays on the field.
“Hitting in the clutch is like a basketball player shooting the three pointer,” Morris said. “Once you get it rolling and once you get the confidence you deliver. That’s the way Ryan is for us.”
Braun is excelling on the diamond and not letting it affect his schoolwork. A business major, Braun made the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll in the first semester, an impressive feat for a freshman student-athlete.
“He is a very intelligent guy,” Morris said. “His decision of where to play collegiate baseball came down to us or Stanford.”
Braun’s success at UM comes as no surprise given his accomplishments in high school.
At Granada Hills High School, he broke the career record for home runs for 25. As a senior, he batted .451 with eight homeruns and 29 RBIs. He had on base percentages of .675 and .668 in his senior and junior years respectively. He played mostly shortstop or designated hitter in high school and was rated as the 6th best SS prospect in the nation by Team One Baseball.
Braun has been a coach’s dream because he is not only talented but works hard. He knows to never lose sight of the team goals.
“I just try to contribute and do whatever it takes to help the team win games,” Braun said.

Darren Grossman can be reached at DRG215@aol.com

The University of Miami qualified two relays and six individuals for the NCAA Regional Championships, and set school-records in the 4×100-meter relay, 4×400-meter relay, shuttle hurdle relay and the hammer throw at the Florida Relays in Gainesville, FL.
The shuttle hurdle relay of freshman All-American Dominique Darden, senior All-American Sharianne Lawson, senior All-American Jamillah Wade and sophomore Amber Williams won with a school-record time of 53.87 seconds. The winning time broke the old UM record set nearly seven years ago.
Darden and Lawson were also members of the 4×100-meter relay along with freshman All-American Charlette Greggs and sophomore All-American Lauryn Williams that finished second with a school-record time of 43.96 seconds. The time qualifies the relay for the NCAA Regional Championship, May 30-31, in Fairfax, VA.
Also setting a school-record and qualifying for the NCAA Regional Championship was the 4×400-meter relay of senior All-American Sashanie Simpson, Greggs, Wade, and junior All-American Kitoya Carter which finished second with a time of 3:30.74. The foursome shattered the old UM record by nearly two seconds.
In addition to the relays the Hurricanes qualified six individuals for the NCAA Regional championships.
The Hurricanes had four runners qualify for the NCAA Regional Championships in the 400-meters with Sashanie Simpson, Saraque Whittaker, Wiande Moore and Kitoya Carter all registered regional qualifying marks.
In addition, Jamillah Wade qualified in the 400-hurdles while Sharianne Lawson qualified in the 100-meters hurdles.
In other action the 4×800-meter relay of senior Terria Madison, senior All-American Saraque Whittaker, freshman Zully Marie Pascual and senior All-American Patricia Pearson finished second with a time 8:49.89.
The weekend was also highlighted by the performance of senior Megan Cobb in the hammer throw. Cobb broke her own school-record for the second consecutive week with a toss of 48.76 meters (160-00). With her throw Cobb becomes the first women’s thrower in school-history to reach the 160-foot plateau.
In the women’s shot put invitational, senior Adrienne Moss finished seventh with a personal best throw of 15.23 meters (49-11.75). Her throw is the second best in UM history.
Meanwhile, the men’s track and field team had four athletes record Big East qualifying marks during the second day of competition at the Florida Relays in Gainesville, FL.
Junior Aaron Bass recorded a mark of 4.58 meters (15-00.25) in the pole vault to qualify for the Big East Outdoor Track and Field Championships, May 2-4, in Storrs, CT. Bass has now qualified for the Big East Championships every season during his Hurricane career.
Senior Dan Boniface finished fourth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a Big East qualifying mark of 9:25.26, while senior Kenneth Frank qualified in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 15.11 seconds.
Junior Russell Landy recorded a Big East qualifying mark in the decathlon posting a score of 5601 points.
In other action freshman Alex Brutvan finished 11th in the 5,000-meters with a time of 15:11.37. In addition, freshman James Mullaly finished 36th in the 1,500-meters (4:05.70) while sophomore James Ballard finished 50th in the 400-meters (50.70).

-Compiled by the sports information department

‘Canes prevail 6-1 over Notre Dame’
Playing in their first match in nine days, the Hurricane men’s tennis team defeated No. 53 Notre Dame in three hours at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center on Sunday afternoon.
Todd Widom returned after missing three weeks of the season with an illness to lead the ‘Canes to a 6-1 victory over the Irish. He recorded the first singles win against Luis Haddock, winning 6-1, 6-3.
Although the score shows a large margin of victory, there was still plenty of intensity between the players on the main court.
“At any position [in the match] you want to keep your intensity up,” Widom said. “When you win the first set pretty easy, the guy is definitely going to come out firing.”
This was the first match for No. 14 Widom since March 13. And head coach Bryan Getz said he noticed difference at the Schiff Tennis Center upon Widom’s return.
“We know most likely that we are going to get a win at that No.1 position with Todd playing,” Getz said. “It just makes our team that much stronger which makes everyone a little more confident.”
The day began with Miami winning two of three doubles matches to secure the first point. Colin Purcell and Andrew Golub defeated Notre Dame’s duo of Brent D’Amico and Mathew Scott 8-3. Widom and Eric Hechtman also provided an 8-6 victory over the pair of Haddock and Brian Farrell.
The ‘Canes built on the momentum from early in the match to take five of six singles points from Notre Dame. Shortly after Widom’s win, John Hoyes topped Eric Langenkamp 6-1, 6-2. Hoyes had been banged up as of late with nagging knee and wrist injuries.
“My attitude towards the match was to just to stay on top; just to play solid,” Hoyes said. “I knew he didn’t have any great weapons to hurt me with so my plan was to just serve well, keep him on the backcourt, and keep attacking.”
Colin Purcell was the next winner for the ‘Canes. He posted a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Nicolas Lopez-Acevedo. Meanwhile, in an adjacent court, Eric Hechtman was beating Farrell in the second set when the Notre Dame player went down with a sprained ankle and never returned – giving the Cane’s another win.
The final match of the day concluded with Luis Manrique winning in a tiebreaker over D’Amico. Since Miami had already clinched the win, the two played the tiebreaker to 10 points after they split the first two sets. The official score was 2-6, 6-2, 1-0. Manrique won the tiebreaker with a score of 10-8.
The only Notre Dame singles win of the day went to Scott, who defeated Golub 6-4, 6-2.
Notre Dame Head Coach Bob Bayliss noted that he sees a marked improvement among the Hurricane players late in the season.
“This was an old-fashioned butt kicking,” he said. “They just beat us, plain and simple. I was surprised how easy they handled us in light of the fact that we beat Virginia Tech last week 5-2 and Virginia Tech won down here. They have really improved over the last few weeks.”
The win improves the No. 25 Hurricane’s record to 12-5. Before the Big East Championships, Miami has two regular season matches remaining against South Florida and Getz’s alma mater, Duke University.
The Hurricane’s success has prompted many, including Notre Dame’s Bayliss, to look at them as the top team heading into the Big East Championships.
“I think they’re an odds-end favorite and I wouldn’t bet against them,” Bayliss said.

Ben Wolf can be reached at b.wolf@umiami.edu

Hurricanes take all three games against No. 2 Georgia Tech
A Sunday game being threatened by weather has become a common scenario this season at Mark Light Stadium. This Sunday was no exception as the Hurricanes closed out a three game series against the Georgia Tech with a 17-16 rain shortened victory to complete the sweep of the Yellow Jackets.
“We have a radar in the locker room and we thought it was going to pour.” Hurricane head coach Jim Morris said. “It really changes the way the game is played when there is a threat of rain.”
As far as rankings go, this was a very important series for Miami. The three wins against Georgia Tech should help the ‘Canes charge into the top ten in most national polls.
“I’m really proud of our guys,” UM head coach Jim Morris said. “It was a tough day to pitch and play defense and you just have to keep battling through it and our guys did that today.”
For the second straight day the Hurricane offense was able to knock out the Georgia Tech starter after 1.2 innings. Both Georgia Tech pitchers, Andrew Kown on Saturday and Brian Burks on Sunday came into the game with earned run averages under three.
The two teams slugged it out all weekend long tallying up a combined score of 37-30 in 26 innings of baseball.
UM starter Brandon Camardese encountered a rough second inning in which Georgia Tech scored nine runs, but he was let off the hook when UM would take the lead in the third inning by putting up a seven spot of their own. Shawn Valdes-Fauli picked up the win in relief for Miami.
“We could have given up early in this game,” Morris said. “We hung in there and kept battling back and battling back.”
UM came back in a huge way in the bottom of the third inning. Ryan Braun, Gabby Sanchez and Jim Burt all hit bombs for the ‘Canes as they led 14-12 at the conclusion of the inning.
“I knew the home run was gone,” Burt said. “I didn’t know if it was going to be fair or foul.”
On Saturday night, the ‘Canes clinched the series victory with a 13-8 victory over Georgia Tech. It was the second straight day in which Miami jumped all over a very strong Yellow Jacket pitching staff. Georgia Tech starter Andrew Kown was chased after just 1.2 innings pitched.
UM starter Vince Bongiovanni put forth one of his best efforts of the season despite a rough first inning. Bongiovanni threw six innings giving up four earned runs and six hits while striking out eight and walking three.
Paco Figueroa delivered the big offensive blow for the Hurricanes going 1-3 with 3 RBI and a run scored.
UM left fielder Richard Giannotti continued his offensive tear going 2-3 with 2 RBI. After being hit by a pitch in the left knee on Wednesday night against Harvard, Giannotti was doubtful for the series.
On Friday night the ‘Canes opened the series by coming back from being down by two runs in the eighth inning to come back to win 7-6. Ryan Braun delivered the go ahead runs to put the ‘Canes up for good. Braun hit the ball well all weekend long and had this to say after Saturday’s game.
“It is fortunate for me because it seems like every time I get up there are two or three guys always on base for me,” Braun said. “It is really important for us to get these wins against a high ranking team like Georgia Tech.”
The Hurricanes will next take on the Owls of Florida Atlantic University at 7pm on Wednesday night at Mark Light Stadium.

Ryan Ellis can be reached at msgnyc@yahoo.com