CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Rutgers baseball received a seven-strikeout performance from junior Tevin Murray in his first collegiate start, but Miami came away with an 9-3 win in the series finale Sunday at Alex Rodriguez Park. The Scarlet Knights rallied to make it 5-3 in the eighth, but the Hurricanes answered with four to pull away late. It was the 10^th time in the last 11 years the teams met for a season-opening series.
 
"You go into the weekend knowing we're going to have a lot of young guys out there," head coach Joe Litterio said. "We wanted to see what they could do, and they did a pretty good job for the most part. Now it's getting all 35 doing the same thing. It's only three games coming down south to play Miami, but I expect to win the series. Going 0-3, I'm not very happy about it. We'll get back in the castle at home, make some adjustments and get back at it next weekend."
 
Murray (0-1), who had made 24 relief appearances the past two seasons, was effective on the mound with only three hits and two earned runs permitted in the 4.2-inning outing. The left-hander's previous best numbers were three innings and five strikeouts out of the bullpen versus Nebraska last year. Overall, the pitching staff collected 11 strikeouts in the game.
 
Offensively, junior Mike Nyisztor had three hits, while freshman Peter Serruto had two with an RBI. Freshman Chris Brito and senior Luke Bowerbank both added RBIs. RU totaled 11 hits.
 
Overall for the weekend, Rutgers (0-3) used 12 newcomers, including eight true freshmen.
 
Murray posted two zeroes to start before Miami (3-0) plated two in the third, using two doubles and an error after two outs. In the fifth, an inherited runner scored after a pitching change on a wild pitch. UM added another in the sixth on an infield single with two outs to take a 4-0 lead.
 
The Scarlet Knights rallied for one in the seventh. Senior Carmen Sclafani picked up a single and advanced to second on an errant pickoff. Then with two down, Serruto delivered his first RBI to cut it to 4-1. However, the Hurricanes responded with one in the bottom half.
 
The game tightened in the top of the eighth when RU rallied for two. Nyisztor connected for his second single of the game before junior Kevin Welsh worked a walk to put the first two on. Next up, Brito ripped an RBI single up the middle to knock home Nyisztor and put runners at the corners. A strikeout followed, but Bowerbank put the ball in play for a run-scoring fielder's choice to make it a two-run game. Sclafani nearly tied it, but his fly ball was caught at the 400-foot sign in center to end the inning.
 
Miami put the game out of reach by scoring four insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth.
 
Brian Van Belle (1-0) picked up the win for the home team by tossing six shutout innings.
 
UP NEXT
Rutgers returns south with a trip to New Orleans next weekend. The Scarlet Knights will take on Butler Friday, New Orleans Saturday and Chicago State Sunday.
 
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