Baseball
The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association announced its fifth annual 2004 preseason All-America team on Tuesday with Miami shortstop Ryan Braun and left-handed pitcher J.D. Cockroft being named to the second and third team, respectively.
Braun, a native of Granada Hills, Calif., was the Baseball America National Freshman of the Year in 2003. He led the Hurricanes with a .364 batting average, 17 home runs and a Miami freshman record 76 RBIs. The sophomore moved to shortstop in the middle of the season and solidified the position during the Hurricanes run to the College World Series.
Cockroft, a Foster City, Calif., native began the 2003 season in the bullpen before moving into Miami’s starting rotation, and establishing himself as the ace of the staff. The senior finished the season with an 11-3 record and a team-low 2.72 ERA in a team-high 119 innings pitched. Cockroft also led the team in strikeouts with 94, complete games three and complete-game shutouts with one.
Miami is coming off of its eighth trip to the College World Series in 10 seasons under head coach Jim Morris.
Miami opens the 2004 regular season on Friday, Feb. 13, with a three-game series against the Florida Gators at Mark Light Field. Prior to that, the Hurricanes will welcome back former players for the annual Alumni Game on Saturday, Feb. 7, at 7 p.m.
Rowing
The University of Miami women’s rowing team concluded fall racing at the Florida Fall Freshman Regatta hosted by Florida Institute of Technology held on Channel 54 in Melbourne, Florida.
“The varsity crews performed well again this weekend,” said Head Coach Debra Morgan. “They will take a lot of excitement and momentum into winter training with them. The freshman squad felt the absence of Sarah Conlon who was out with a back injury, but rowed well nonetheless.” Junior oarswoman, Julie Crane stepped up to replace Conlon in the JV eight which caused a ripple effect of line up changes all the way down the team.
Despite a strong headwind and an incoming tide, the varsity and JV eights placed first and second out of a pool of 13 varsity crews. “It’s great for our junior varsity crew to be able to beat all the other varsity crews in the state,” said Morgan. “That’s been our goal a couple of years now. We know we need to be utterly dominate in Florida in order to be on track for our goals nationwide.”