Baseball Heads to #11 Miami for Non-Conference Series

CLINTON, S.C. – The Presbyterian College baseball begins the month of May with a road trip to battle #11 Miami (Fla.) in a three-game weekend series opening on Friday at 7 p.m. from Coral Gables. The series continues on Saturday at 7 p.m. with the series finale set to commence at 1 p.m. on Sunday from Alex Rodriguez Park. All three games will be shown on ACC Network Extra this weekend.

GAMEDAY CENTRAL
WHAT: Presbyterian (18-27, 9-12 Big South) at #11 Miami (Fla.) (28-16, 14-10 ACC)
WHERE: Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field (Miami, Fla.)
WHEN: 7 p.m. (Fri.) | 7 p.m. (Sat.) | 1 p.m. (Sun.)
THE SERIES (Since 2008): Never Played in DI Era

FOLLOW THE ACTION
LIVE STATS: Stat Broadcast (Fri.) | Stat Broadcast (Sat.) | Stat Broadcast (Sun.)
LIVE VIDEO: ACCN Extra (Fri.) | ACCN Extra (Sat.) | ACCN Extra (Sun.)
TWITTER: @PresbyterianBSB
GAME NOTES

ON THE MOUND
Friday
PC – RHP Duncan Howard (3-3, 5.60 ERA, 47 K)
MIA – RHP Gage Ziehl (5-4, 5.25 ERA, 66 K)

Saturday
PC – LHP Charlie McDaniel (3-6, 6.34 ERA, 48 K)
MIA – RHP Alejandro Rosario (2-5, 9.12 ERA, 62 K)

Sunday
PC – TBA
MIA – TBA

About the Blue Hose
• PC opens up the month of May on Friday with a visit to Coral Gables to battle #11 Miami out of the ACC. The Blue Hose have not seen the field since dropping two-of-three to USC Upstate in league play. Miami takes the field on Friday for the first time since last Saturday when the Hurricanes earned a road series win at Louisville.

Scouting the Hurricanes
• Miami (Fla.) comes into the weekend with a 28-16 record following take two-of-three in its last on-field action at Louisville. The Hurricanes are led at the plate by Yohandy Morales who's hitting .375 with 12 doubles, 10 homers, 43 RBIs and 37 runs scored. CJ Kayfus sits at .329 with 41 runs, nine doubles and 10 homers. The Hurricanes lead the ACC with 84 homers paced by Blake Cyr with 12 homers and Carlos Perez with 11 home runs. On the mound, the Hurricanes are led by Andrew Walters who's totaled a 3-0 record along with a 1.55 ERA and a team-high seven saves. Carlos Lequerica sits at 4-0 with a 3.77 ERA in 20 outings with a start. The Hurricanes sit in the top 20 in the nation in strikeout-to-walk ratio at 2.75.

Head to Head vs Miami (Fla.)
• Friday's series opener marks the first time the two teams have met in the Blue Hose DI era.

Blue Hose vs Ranked Opponents
• PC looks to tally multiple ranked wins in a season for the first time since 2015 when the Blue Hose earned ranked wins over #22 Indiana, #7 UCF and #27 South Carolina. Presbyterian picked up a ranked victory over #14 Campbell in April.
• In the program's DI history, the Blue Hose have eight wins over ranked opponents including three over UCF, one over Coastal Carolina, Clemson, Indiana, South Carolina and the aforementioned Campbell.

Blue Hose Close Season as Road Warriors
• With the Blue Hose on the home stretch of the 2023 season, PC will have to do a majority of the work on the road as the Blue Hose are set to play 11 of their final 14 games away from Clinton continuing in Miami this weekend.
• PC takes a final step out of conference the following weekend with a trip to Miami to battle the nationally ranked Hurricanes. After the trip to Coral Gables, PC travels to Cullowhee for a midweek matchup before returning home for senior weekend against Longwood.
• The final regular season week features a road matchup at Alabama State before a trip to Radford to battle the Highlanders.

Smith Named to NCBWA Midseason Stopper of the Year Watch List
• Presbyterian College baseball senior pitcher Tanner Smith was one of 57 pitchers named to the 2023 NCBWA Midseason Stopper of the Year Watch List as announced by the association.
• The award is given to the top relief pitcher in NCAA Division I baseball with this being the 18th year of the award. In total 25 conferences have representation with 10 of those leagues having two representatives.
• Smith is currently 1-3 on the season with a 2.90 ERA along with an impressive 1.1 WHIP. He has allowed 10 earned runs in 31 innings of work and has totaled 42 strikeouts.
• He leads the Big South with six saves and has not allowed an earned run in 14 of his 21 outings which includes a stretch of 10.2 innings he didn't allow an earned run over six appearances. Smith earned a pair of relief pitcher honors from the league in back-to-back weeks on March 20 and 27.

Blue Hose in the Ranks
• Brody Fahr is tied for third in the league with three triples on the season. He's also tied for third in the conference in hits with 59 on the year. He's also sixth in the Big South with a .355 batting average this season.
• Tanner Smith is atop the league in saves with six.
• Charlie McDaniel is tops in the Big South with a 4.36 strikeout-to-walk ratio. McDaniel is tops in the conference with 1.66 walks allowed per nine innings. He sits among the top 10 nationally in games started with a team-high 12 starts this season.
• Colbey Klepper and Luke Gibson are tied for third in the league and 48th in the nation in appearances with 22 on the season. Smith is one outing behind with 21 appearances sitting in a tie for sixth in the conference.
• Freshman Kyle Mueller is tied for second in league play with four victories. He also leads the team and is inside the top 10 in the league with five overall wins.
• As a team, PC is tied atop the conference with nine saves led by Smith with six saves.

Fahr Red-Hot at the Plate over Last 19 Games
• Fahr has reached base safely in the last 19 games including hits in 12 straight contests entering Friday's opener in Miami. The Blue Hose shortstop is hitting .429 (33-of-77) with 16 runs scored and 13 runs knocked in. He's added seven doubles, a triple along with a homer.
• He's tallied multiple hits in 12 contests including three games with three hits during the current 19-game stretch. Fahr has raised his batting average 54 points from .301 to .355 during the 19-game tear he's been on as of late.

Deal Starting Fast with Braves Farm System
• Former Blue Hose pitcher Hayden Deal has began his 2023 season tossing 10 innings over seven outings allowing two earned runs with 11 strikeouts for the Mississippi Braves, the AA Affiliate of the Atlanta Braves.
•As he begins his sixth year in pro baseball in 2023, Deal is 24-17 with a 3.24 ERA as over 386 innings pitched he has racked up 344 strikeouts. He also added five saves in his minor league career.

Fenderson Named Big South Freshman of the Week
• Presbyterian College baseball freshman Trey Fenderson (Spanish Fort, Ala.) has been named the Big South Freshman of the Week for games played April 17-23, as announced by the league office on Monday.
• Fenderson finished the week with a .313 average (5-of-16) with four runs scored along with a double and a pair of homers in a 2-2 week for the Blue Hose. The PC third baseman also tallied five runs knocked in and drew a pair of walks in the four-game week for Presbyterian.
• He got off to a quick start in the midweek battle with ETSU connecting on his second homer of the season in a six-run first that helped carried PC past the Bucs 16-3 on Wednesday night.In the series opener against Gardner-Webb he tallied another base knock before opening Saturday's tilt with a solo homer as part of a seven-run first against the Runnin' Bulldogs. He also added an RBI single that capped the 13-3 victory over Gardner-Webb. In the series finale, Fenderson added an RBI single along with drawing a bases-loaded walk that gave him his second multiple RBI contest in as many days.

Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

#2 Brody Fahr: INF; 5' 11"; Junior; L/R

#25 Duncan Howard: RHP; 6' 3"; Junior; R/R

#34 Colbey Klepper: RHP; 6' 4"; Senior; R/R

#31 Charlie McDaniel: LHP; 6' 3"; Junior; L/L

#16 Tanner Smith: RHP; 6' 2"; Senior; R/R

#15 Trey Fenderson: MIF; 6' 0"; Freshman; R/R

#28 Kyle Mueller: RHP; 6' 4"; Freshman; R/R

#29 Luke Gibson: LHP; 6' 0"; Junior; L/L

Players Mentioned

#2 Brody Fahr
: 5' 11"; Junior; L/R
: INF

#25 Duncan Howard
: 6' 3"; Junior; R/R
: RHP

#34 Colbey Klepper
: 6' 4"; Senior; R/R
: RHP

#31 Charlie McDaniel
: 6' 3"; Junior; L/L
: LHP

#16 Tanner Smith
: 6' 2"; Senior; R/R
: RHP

#15 Trey Fenderson
: 6' 0"; Freshman; R/R
: MIF

#28 Kyle Mueller
: 6' 4"; Freshman; R/R
: RHP

#29 Luke Gibson
: 6' 0"; Junior; L/L
: LHP