Canes Open Baseball Season Tonight Vs. Rutgers
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- Fresh off their first College World Series appearance in six years, the Hurricanes will be back on the diamond Friday night to open the 2016 season.
The Canes are currently ranked #6 in the nation by Baseball America but lost two of their best offensive weapons in David Thompson and George Iskenderian.
They host the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, who are unranked, at 7 p.m. in Miami.
The Canes are looking for C Zack Collins to increase his power potential. He hit 15 HR's and 70 RBI last year, good for second on the team. Willie Abreu will return to right field after a tumultuous year that saw his mother suffer a massive stroke and undergo brain surgery.
Pitchers Thomas Woodrey (7-2, 2.88 ERA), Danny Garcia (7-1, 3.69 ERA) and Enrique Sosa (7-5, 4.35 ERA) also return, although Sosa is dealing with a shoulder injury and has been scrapped from the rotation.
The Canes will look to make back-to-back trips to Omaha for the first time since the 2003 and 2004 season. The team's last national championship victory was in 2001.