No. 6 Miami Falls to No. 1 Florida 7-3 in Finale
Miami37
Florida
| RELATED LINKS |
| Box Score |
| Postgame Interviews: Morris | Players |
| Season Stats |
| Wednesday vs FGCU: Buy Tickets |
| LINESCORE | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| UF | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 12 | 2 |
| MIA | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| PITCHING | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | |||||||
| W – A. Faedo (2-0) | 6.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 12 | ||||||
| L – D. Garcia (1-1) | 5.1 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | ||||||
| INDIVIDUAL LEADERS | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AB | R | H | RBI | BB | HR | |||||||
| MIA – J. Ruiz | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| UF – J. Schwarz | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Sixth-ranked Miami dropped its series finale to top-ranked Florida 7-3 Sunday afternoon at Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field.
The Hurricanes, who evened the series with a 5-3 win in game two Saturday night, could not generate any offense against Florida starter Alex Faedo. Miami was held hitless until the ninth inning, when they strung together three runs off the Gators bullpen.
“[Florida] has a really good club,” head coach Jim Morris said. “You can see why they’re ranked where they’re at. They have outstanding pitching, and the played well. Today we definitely got outplayed.”
A day after needing only 2.2 innings to chase preseason All-America lefty A.J. Puk, the Hurricanes (5-2) did not record a hit in Faedo’s 6.1 innings.
“You have to make an adjustment. You can’t continue to have the same approach over and over again,” said Johnny Ruiz, Miami’s leading hitter. “He was pretty consistent with his regimen of pitches.”
Faedo (2-0) struck out a career-high 12 batters and issued just two walks – both to junior slugger Zack Collins. Miami’s first hit of the day came on a single from redshirt junior Christopher Barr in the ninth off reliever Shaun Anderson.
The hit was the first of three for Miami in the inning, which led to three runs.
“It was definitely good to get that hit, to get that off our shoulders and get something going,” Barr said.
Trailing 7-0 in the ninth, the late comeback attempt from the Hurricanes (5-2) included a single from Jacob Heyward and a bases-clearing double from Ruiz off Anderson to cut the deficit to 7-3.
But Gators righthander Dane Dunning entered in relief of Anderson and recorded the final two outs in front of 4,784.
The Gators (7-1) tagged Miami lefthander Danny Garcia for one run in the first inning and added a pair in the second, jumping out to an early 3-0 lead.
Garcia (1-1) would settle down after the tough start, however, pitching three scoreless innings to hold the deficit at three runs. He exited after 5.1 innings and 91 pitches.
“It’s early in the season,” Garcia said when asked about what his team learned from the weekend. “Facing a ballclub like Florida – hats off, they’re a very good ballclub and that’s why they’re ranked where they’re ranked – but we should have gone out there and adjusted a little faster, a little quicker.”
The visitors added a run in the sixth on an RBI groundout by Mike Rivera, and a two-RBI triple from JJ Schwarz off freshman righthander Andrew Cabezas keyed a three-run seventh that moved Florida’s lead to 7-0.
Redshirt freshman Keven Pimentel pitched a scoreless eighth inning, while freshman Isaiah Musa made his Hurricanes debut with a scoreless ninth inning.
The Hurricanes have an exhibition at Roger Dean Stadium against the Miami Marlins on Tues., March 1 (1:05 p.m.) before returning to Mark Light Field on Wed., March 2 for a midweek matchup with FGCU.
First pitch for the game, slated for broadcast on ESPN3 and WatchESPN, is set for 6 p.m.
