CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Sophomore
Chris Brito blasted a solo home run off the batter's eye in centerfield in the top of the eighth to cut Rutgers baseball's (0-1) deficit to 2-1, but No. 3 Miami (1-0) held from there to claim a one-run win on Opening Night Friday at Alex Rodriguez Park. It was the first game for the Scarlet Knights under head coach
Steve Owens.
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"I thought we did a lot of things very well," Owens said. "We got a good start from Harry, who wasn't at his best today, but gutted through. He did a super job like he always does in giving us a chance to win. And then
Kyle Muller was awesome out of the pen, even with a couple of defensive drops, he worked out of it to keep the game where it was. Reardon came in and did his job. It was outstanding pitching for day one.
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"Offensively, their pitching is really good, but we had some opportunities and didn't capitalize. We didn't do a good enough job of getting our swings off and hitting deep in counts."
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Junior
Harry Rutkowski (0-1) worked five innings in his season debut with five strikeouts. The left-hander allowed only five singles and one walk, with two runs scoring against on a two-out single in the third inning. It was his 28
th career start.
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"I felt pretty good out there, really loose, but couldn't get connected on some of my pitches," Rutkowski said. "I want to improve my flow going forward. As a pitching staff, we have to keep attacking the zone."
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Redshirt junior
Kyle Muller followed in relief with 2.1 scoreless innings. That included escaping a bases-loaded jam in the sixth. In the eighth, senior
Eric Reardon stranded an inherited runner in scoring position by fanning a pair.
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Offensively, Brito crushed his fourth career homer, a laser to dead center. He also singled, being the only player in the game with multiple hits. Junior
Sam Owens and sophomore
Victor Valderrama also reached twice by both singling and walking.
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Brian Van Belle (1-0) earned the win for the Hurricanes by tossing six shutout frames with a career-high 10 strikeouts and no walks. Daniel Federman recorded the final four outs for the save.
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