Miami Drops Series Opener to California
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The Miami Hurricanes baseball team (30-12, 10-9 ACC) fell to the Cal Golden Bears Friday night at Mark Light Field by a final score of 9-2.
California’s Oliver delaTorre (4-4) earned the win, tossing 8.0 innings and allowing two runs on five hits with one walk and seven strikeouts. Miami’s Rob Evans (8-2) was charged with the loss after surrendering four runs, two earned, with three strikeouts.
Evans was taken out of the game two-thirds of the way through the second inning due to an injury.
The Golden Bears were off to a hot start during their first trip to the plate, scoring three runs on two hits. Jacob French reached on a Miami error, then Jett Kenady followed with a two-run home run to deep left, scoring French from first on an unearned run and putting Cal ahead early, 2-0.
Two batters later, Lawson Olmstead added a solo shot to left to extend the lead to 3-0 before Miami recorded the final out to stop the bleeding
Miami answered back with one run in the bottom half as Jake Ogden led off with a double and moved to third on an error by Cal. Derek Williams brought him home with a sacrifice fly to center, cutting the Cal lead to 3-1.
Cal kept the pressure on in the second, scoring an RBI groundout off the bat of Joshua Hanson and moving the lead to 4-1.
But Miami continued to chip away in the bottom of the third as Ogden sparked the offense with a single to center. Max Galvin followed with a base hit to shallow right, moving Ogden to third, and Williams delivered an RBI single to shallow left, scoring Ogden and moving the score to 4-2.
In the fourth, Miami worked into a bases-loaded jam with no outs, prompting a pitching change as Jack Durso relieved Tate DeRias. Durso limited the damage, issuing a bases-loaded walk that allowed one run to score as California extended its lead to 5-2.
Cal dug deeper into Miami’s bullpen, plating two runs in the sixth and seventh innings to further the gap, handing Miami the series opener loss.
Miami will look to even the series against Cal Saturday at Mark Light Field, with first pitch slated for 6 p.m. Game two of the series will be broadcast live on ACCNX and WVUM 90.5 FM.
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