Baseball Falls 5-2 in Exhibition with Marlins
JUPITER, Fla. – The No. 14 Miami Hurricanes dropped their annual exhibition with the Miami Marlins Wednesday at Roger Dean Stadium, falling in the afternoon affair by a final score of 5-2.
Senior righthander Javi Salas pitched well in his second start of the spring, scattering five hits across four shutout innings. The Coral Gables, Fla., native had one walk and one strikeout against a Marlins lineup featuring four potential Opening Day starters.
The Hurricanes got on the board first thanks to an RBI grounder from first baseman Brad Fieger in the third inning that was mishandled by Marlins shortstop Ed Lucas.
Senior outfielder Dale Carey got the action started with a double to left off reliever James Leverton, and took third on a sacrifice bunt from senior Tyler Palmer.
Carey would score on an error charged to Lucas on a ground ball from Fieger, who advanced to second on a throw that sailed into the visiting team dugout. Carey finished the game 2-for-3 before being replaced by sophomore Ricky Eusebio in center.
The Marlins were charged with three errors in their spring opener in front of 1,786 fans at Roger Dean.
Freshman lefthander Danny Garcia relieved Salas with a scoreless fifth, but the Marlins tagged senior righthander Adam Sargent for two runs in the bottom of the sixth to take their first lead of the afternoon.
With the bases loaded, Joe Benson hit a sacrifice fly to left to knot the score 1-1. Sargent got Danny Black on a fly out for the second out of the inning, but an RBI single from J.T. Realmuto landed in front of Eusebio and made it 2-1 in favor of the hosts.
The Marlins added three more insurance runs charged to sophomore Enrique Sosa in the seventh. Sam Abrams, Daniel Sayles and Sosa all made their spring debuts in the defeat.
Freshman Zack Collins connected on an opposite-field home run off Marlins reliever Grant Dayton on the first pitch of the ninth to make it 5-2.
No. 14 Miami continues its challenging nonconference slate with a weekend series at No. 2 Florida State. First pitch for Friday’s series opener, slated for broadcast on ESPN3, is scheduled for 4 p.m.
