CORAL GABLES, Fla. - The Rutgers baseball team dropped a 4-1 decision to No. 23 Miami Wednesday evening in front of 1,542 fans at Mark Light Field.
The game featured seven total hits by both teams with the Hurricanes (12-9) holding the Scarlet Knights (6-8) to just two hits in the contest. Hurricane starter Jason Santana moved to 4-0 on the season, working 5.2 innings of two-hit, one-run ball with seven strikeouts.
The Hurricanes threatened in the opening frame, loading the bases. Rutgers starter Dennis Hill (Hillsdale, N.J.) got out of the jam, however, inducing a groundout to end the frame. Hill then settled in, retiring the next seven batters in order to work a scoreless first three frames.
Miami later scored the game's first run in the fourth when Blake Tekotta wrapped a single through the right side with runners on first and second to drive in a run and give the Hurricanes the early 1-0 lead.
An inning later, UM's Yonder Alonso hit an RBI triple off the top of the wall in left center and the Hurricanes tacked on a second run in the frame to build a 3-0 advantage over the Scarlet Knights.
Junior Todd Frazier (Toms River, N.J.) gave Rutgers its first hit of the game in the sixth. The All-American made it count, leading off the inning with his second home run in as many days and team-leading seventh of the season over the 400-foot marker in center field. Rutgers continued its rally in the inning when senior Dave Williams (Franklin, N.J.) hit a two-out single to center field to end Santana's day. However, Miami reliever David Gutierrez came in and got Tim Querns (Cherry Hill, N.J.) out on strikes to end any further threat.
The Hurricanes put a man on third in the bottom half of the sixth inning off reliever Jason Downey (Ballston Lake, N.J.), but Downey got Jemile Weeks, Frazier's teammate with USA National Team last summer, to go down on strikes to end the inning.
After two quick outs for Downey in the bottom half of the seventh, Alonso extended the Hurricanes' lead to 4-1 with a solo home run to left field.
Red-shirt freshman Kevin Lillis (Fair Haven, N.J.) started the eighth for Rutgers, working an effective scoreless frame with a strikeout and hit in his second career appearance.
Hill struck out a pair with three runs on three hits and six walks in five innings of work to fall to 1-2 on the season.
Frazier's seventh home run of the season moved him into a tie with Mike O'Brien (1998-2000) for fourth place on the school's career home run list with 27 home runs.
Rutgers travels a couple hours north in the Sunshine State to Orlando, Fla. for a three-game series with the University of Central Florida, beginning with a 6:30 p.m. game on Friday.
