CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Rutgers baseball (0-3) hit three balls over the fence in a 13-6 loss to No. 3 Miami (3-0) in the series finale Sunday at Alex Rodriguez Park. The Scarlet Knights opened the season against the Hurricanes for 11^th time in 12 years.
 
"Friday and Saturday I was satisfied with our competitiveness, our starting pitching and the pressure of a close game," head coach Steve Owens said. "We faced good starting pitching all three days. Today didn't start well, Parker gave us a chance for a while out of the bullpen, but our hitters got dominated. We played shoddy defense and hit and walked too many guys. We didn't give ourselves a chance to win. Miami is a really good team offensively, very talented, and their starting pitchers could carry them a long way. We have a lot of work to do to keep getting better. There were some bright spots there and some areas we need to work at. We look forward to getting back at it at practice this week and starting it all over again next weekend."
 
Sophomore Peter Serruto highlighted the offensive production with a 3-for-4 performance, his first three-hit collegiate game, which included his first RU homer. Sophomore Chris Brito also went deep for his second long ball of the weekend, while junior Mike Nyisztor, who had three RBIs, cleared the fence on a play that was scored a two-run single. As Nyisztor rounded first, he passed senior Kevin Welsh. Welsh drew two walks in the game.
 
"I'm just trying to stay short to the ball," Serruto said. "I've been working with the coaches a ton. My swing has been too long at times. On the homer, I just wanted to hit a single to right-center and I got a breaking ball over the plate that I was able to turn on."
 
On the mound, sophomore Parker Scott worked a career-high 3.2 innings of relief with two runs permitted. Senior Tevin Murray (0-1) took the loss in his season debut.
 
Miami starter Slade Cecconi (1-0) began his outing with 5.1 hitless innings before Serruto singled in the sixth. The right-hander finished with one run surrendered and eight strikeouts over six frames. The Hurricanes had 12 hits at the plate.
 
"Our goal coming in here was to win the series and compete at a high level," Serruto said. "We competed for about 16 innings and took some innings off. There are a lot thing we need to improve on. We're going to watch a lot of video and get right back at it."
 

SCORING

• Miami used three hits and three walks to take a 2-0 lead after one inning.
• The Hurricanes added three more in the second, two earned.
• The UM lead extended to 7-0 in the third on an RBI single and a safety squeeze.
• The Scarlet Knights picked up a run in the top of the sixth. Serruto lined a one-out single and advanced to third on the first career hit, a single, by freshman Josh Rodriguez. Following a walk drawn by Welsh to load the bases, Nyisztor lifted a sacrifice fly.
• Miami tallied three in the last of the sixth and two in the seventh to up to a 12-1 advantage.
• In the eighth, RU rallied for five runs. Redshirt junior Danny DiGeorgio led off by reaching on an error, and was pinch run for by senior Anthony Greco, before Serruto launched a homer off the scoreboard in left-center. Rodriguez was hit by a pitch and Welsh walked to bring up Nyisztor, who lifted one similar to Serruto's shot earlier in the inning. However, Nyisztor passed Welsh near first base and was ruled out, as two runs crossed instead of three. Brito blasted a solo homer to the opposite field with two outs.
• The Hurricanes posted an unearned run in the bottom of the eighth to set the final at 13-6.

 

NOTES

• Rodriguez, redshirt freshman Jacob Newman and freshman Grant Shulman all made their collegiate debuts. Freshman Jordan Sweeney saw his first action earlier in the day in the resumption of the suspended game.
• Rutgers faced a top-three opponent for the third time since 2006.

 

UP NEXT

The Scarlet Knights return to the Sunshine State next weekend to face North Florida. The three-game series starts Friday at 6 p.m. Listen on ScarletKnights.com.

Brito! The sophomore lifts his second homer of the series, this one the opposite way.

T8 | Miami 12, Rutgers 6 pic.twitter.com/gpyDoSuIqv

— Rutgers Baseball (@RutgersBaseball) February 16, 2020

First career homer! Serruto crushes one off the scoreboard in left-center.

T8 | Miami 12, Rutgers 3 pic.twitter.com/wN4eeRbUvO

— Rutgers Baseball (@RutgersBaseball) February 16, 2020

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