Florida Four hits Steinbrenner Field

Posted Mar 1, 2010 by Scott Carter

Updated Mar 1, 2010 at 10:43 PM

Steinbrenner Field is the place to be Tuesday if you are a college baseball fan.

The New York Yankees and USF are hosting the inaugural Florida Four, a one-day event featuring two games and four teams: USF, Miami, Florida and Florida State.

Here is a look at event in capsule form:

FLORIDA FOUR

WHAT: Inaugural Florida Four Baseball Classic

WHO: South Florida (1-5) vs. Miami (5-1), 4 p.m.; Florida (5-0) vs. Florida State (6-0), 7:30 p.m.

WHERE: Steinbrenner Field, Tampa

TV: Both games will be televised on Bright House Sports Network, Channel 47

NEED TO KNOW: Host USF faces Miami for first time since 2005 season … Teddy Kaufman is probable starter for Bulls, who won their first game of season on Saturday behind strong outing from former Alonso pitcher Ray Delphey … Bulls have lost 22 of 28 games to Hurricanes in Miami coach Jim Morris’ 16 seasons … Florida has five players who played their high school baseball in the Tampa Bay area: junior RHP Grany Abadal (St. Petersburg), junior RHP Matt Campbell (Freedom), sophomore LHP Alex Panteliodis (Alonso), sophomore RHP Tommy Toledo (Alonso) and sophomore IF Preston Tucker (Plant). … Florida State features four Bay-area products: freshman RHP Robert Benincasa (Armwood), junior OF Robby Stahl (St. Petersburg Catholic), junior RHP Geoff Parker (Zephyrhills) and sophomore IF Sherman Johnson (Alonso); Johnson was named Atlantic Coast Conference player of the week on Monday after driving in 10 runs in the Seminoles’ three-game sweep of Hofstra over the weekend … Miami’s roster doesn’t include any local players; Hurricanes OF Chris Pelaez, a junior-college transfer, leads the ACC in hitting with a .706 average (12-for-17, 2 HRs, 5 RBIs).

Mike Garbett, Scott Carter

For more on the Florida Four, check out my blog later for a story that involves the four coaches discussing the event.

Here are the team notes provided by each school:

USF team notes

Miami team notes

Florida team notes

Florida State team notes