The University of Miami baseball team dropped game one of the three-game series against the No. 8 Florida Gators, 6-2, Friday night at Condron Family Ballpark.
Miami right-handed pitcher Nick Robert (2-1) registered his first loss of the season – surrendering three earned runs off four hits in five innings of work. Liam Peterson (3-0) earned the win for Florida, pitching six innings, allowing two runs on four hits while striking out seven.
The Hurricanes (8-2) went to work right away against the Gators (10-0). In the top of the first, Daniel Cuvet fired up the Hurricanes bench with his second double of the season.
Jake Ogden, who is now on a five-game hitting streak, delivered a base knock into left field to drive in Cuvet and put Miami on the board, 1-0.
In the next inning, Florida battled back. With bases loaded, Nick Robert walked in Florida’s Luke Heyman – tying the game at one.
The back-and-forth narrative continued into the third as Michael Torres reached home on a passed ball that was ruled a wild pitch, but Florida responded with solo home runs from Bobby Boser and Brendan Lawson in the next half inning.
After tallying a run in the first and third, the Miami bats were silenced as the Gators held the Hurricanes to six-straight scoreless frames.
The Gators added insurance runs in the later innings and sealed the win behind a strong bullpen performance, with Frank Menendez, Luke McNeillie, and Alex Philpott combining for three scoreless innings.
Game two of the three-game series is slated for 4:30 p.m. on Saturday.
