’Canes pitching, defense struggle in error-filled loss to Rutgers

CORAL GABLES — Ahead of the Miami baseball team’s opening weekend, coach Jim Morris was blunt.

If the Hurricanes were to win games this season, they’d need solid pitching and even better defense.

They got neither Sunday afternoon, and in the end, that meant no seasonopening series sweep.

Starter Michael Mediavilla and his relievers struggled at times, the Hurricanes committed six errors — including five in a disastrous fourth inning — and Rutgers capitalized with a 17-6 win in the finale of the three-game series at Mark Light Field.

“We got beat pretty good. We got our money’s worth,” Morris said. “It wasn’t a close one. We didn’t play well. About everything we could do wrong, we did today. From interference to batting out of order in the ninth inning to making six errors, we just didn’t play the game well. …

“They did a better job than we did. They played much better defense, swung the bat better. We have young players and they have to learn and get better from that and bounce back and be ready to play the next game.”

As forgettable a day as it was for Miami, for Rutgers, Sunday was something to celebrate.

Though the Scarlet Knights (1-2) dropped their first two against the Hurricanes, the finale snapped a 16-game losing streak to Miami and marked the first time since 2011 that Rutgers wasn’t swept on a trip to Coral Gables. The 17 runs were also the most Rutgers has scored in 65 games against the Hurricanes (2-1).

Rutgers wasted no time setting the tone. The Scarlet Knights opened the game with back-to-back doubles from former St. Thomas Aquinas twosport standout Jawuan Harris and Mike Carter off Mediavilla to quickly take a 1-0 lead.

And though Mediavilla — who was 11-2 with a 3.40 ERA last season — recovered the next three hitters and limited the damage to a single run, he struggled with his control again in the fourth, and he got little help behind him in the field.

There were three walks in the inning, five errors, and just one hit for Rutgers — a combination that allowed the Scarlet Knights to plate five runs and push their lead to 6-0.

“I felt good. I thought I was controlling it well, but some things didn’t go our way, and I think I got a little erratic,” Mediavilla said. “We just got beat in every aspect of the game. We got outpitched, outhit and they played much better defense than we did. It’s still early in the season, first series, we just have to learn from it. … We have to learn from it, take it game by game and get ready for the next game coming up, which is FIU. We have to learn from our mistakes, come to practice Tuesday and work.”

Miami would chip away at that deficit with three runs in the bottom of the fourth on the strength of RBI singles from Michael Amditis and Carl Chester. But Rutgers continued adding to its lead with runs in the sixth, seventh, and ninth innings, as Miami relievers Evan McKendry, Michael Perez, Andrew Cabezas, Ryan Guerra and Daniel Rivero all struggled.

Amditis, a freshman out of Boca Raton High, finished with three hits and three RBI, and Chester had two RBI.

Miami plays its next five games on the road, traveling to Florida International on Wednesday and then Gainesville to face No. 3 Florida next weekend before a March 1 game at Florida Atlantic.