No. 22 Miami Comes Up Short at FAU, 6-5
BOCA RATON, Fla. — The 22nd-ranked University of Miami baseball team dropped its first midweek contest of the season, falling to the FAU Owls, 6-5, Tuesday evening at FAU Baseball Stadium.
“We had a ton of guys in scoring position, but didn’t do anything with it,” Miami head coach Gino DiMare said. “We just didn’t put together good at-bats…At the end of the day, we didn’t play an all-around good game. FAU is a good team. It’s probably one of their better clubs, especially offensively.”
The Hurricanes (7-2) put the tying-run on second base in the ninth against redshirt junior lefty Marc Degusipe, prompting FAU (7-1) to turn to its closer Robert Wegielnik.
Wegielnik set down the final two hitters to secure the win for the Owls, ultimately ending the Hurricanes’ seven-game winning streak.
Miami also mounted prime scoring chances in the seventh and eighth innings, but FAU navigated through traffic to strand six runners over the last three frames.
In the defeat, the Hurricanes totaled their eighth multi-homer performance across their first nine contests.
Juniors Yohandy Morales and Ian Farrow both smacked home runs, as Farrow finished 5-for-5 for the second time in his career. Meanwhile, Morales reached base safely five times, drawing three walks.
Morales’ solo shot in the first catapulted Miami ahead, but FAU tallied four runs over the next two frames, behind a pair of blasts.
After he scored in the fourth, Farrow’s two-run jack in the sixth leveled the score, before Miami centerfielder Dario Gomez ripped a go-ahead single up the middle.
FAU regained the lead for good in the seventh, highlighted by the game-winning base hit from veteran Mitchell Hartigan.
Degusipe (2-0) was credited with the win, after working two scoreless innings. Miami right-hander Ronaldo Gallo (0-1) was tagged with the loss.
The Hurricanes continue their four-game road swing, as Miami travels to face No. 6 Florida in Gainesville. First pitch in the annual rivalry is set for 6:30 p.m. Friday at Condron Family Ballpark.
“We have to stop pressing and putting too much pressure on ourselves,” DiMare said. “We need to act a little bit more mature and the plate and handle those situations better. We’ll learn from it.”
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