Late grand slam by Owls’ Rivera defeats ’Canes

CORAL GABLES — There have been times this season the Hurricanes — a team with freshmen in seven spots in Wednesday’s lineup — have struggled at the plate.

Their latest matchup with Florida Atlantic wasn’t exactly one of those times, but it didn’t matter. Their relief pitching couldn’t get key outs late, their defense failed them and ultimately, the Owls capitalized with some well-timed hitting of their own.

FAU, which trailed by as many as seven runs, chipped away at the Hurricanes’ lead and in the top of the ninth, scored six unearned runs thanks in part to a grand slam from second baseman Eric Rivera that capped a wild 11-9 comeback win over Miami at Mark Light Stadium.

The Hurricanes, who have now lost four of their last six, committed five errors in the loss, including one in the ninth that allowed FAU’s leadoff hitter Cody Wilson to reach.

Not long after, Hurricanes coach Jim Morris opted to make a pitching change, replacing Frankie Bartow with Cooper Hammond, who struggled and gave up four hits, including Rivera’s home run to right center.

“Well, congratulations to FAU. They did a great job coming back. You have to give them credit for what they did,” Morris said. “But for us, we’re up 9-2, we’ve got to win. We’ve got to put the game away. We had a chance to pound somebody and we didn’t. We let them back in the ball game, we played terrible defense, we didn’t pitch late and we made too man errors to let them back in the game. Terrible job by our team to really get a chance when they’re ahead that far, to put somebody away. I’m very disappointed in this loss, as much as any loss this year.”

For Miami (9-11), early on, every indication was this night was going to go much better than the first game against its South Florida rival.

When the two teams met in Boca Raton on Feb. 28, FAU jumped to a quick 4-0 lead and while the Hurricanes chipped at that margin throughout the night, they never tied the game, never led and ultimately, lost 5-4.

This time, after FAU took a 2-0 lead in the second, Miami’s offense delivered, starting in the bottom of the inning when freshman Raymond Gil crushed a Marc Stewart pitch to deep right field for the first home run of his Hurricanes career.

Two innings later came Miami’s offensive barrage, one that resulted in the Hurricanes batting around, freshman Isaac Quinones extending his hit streak to 11 games and both Stewart and reliever Nick Swan being chased from the game.

Along with Quinones, in that inning, Freddy Zamora, Dylan Cloonan, Hunter Tackett and Michael Burns each notched hits.

Ultimately, the Hurricanes finished the fourth inning with five hits, Michael Perez drew a bases-loaded walk and Miami built an 8-2 lead that grew to 9-2 in the fifth on a hit from Raymond Gil.

After that, though, FAU began rallying.

The Owls (16-5) got a run in the sixth on an RBI single from Rivera. In the seventh, FAU got two runs, this time on the strength of a solo home run from Cody Wilson and a David Miranda RBI single.

Then came the ninth, which left Miami angry and frustrated.

Now, the Hurricanes have to find a way to pick themselves up ahead of a three-game weekend series against against ACC rival Virginia.

“This is a tough one to swallow tonight,” Burns said. “I thought we really got it going, didn’t end up on top and I guess you can say it’s part of the game. It’s how you respond on Friday. That’s what we’re looking to do — respond to this game on Friday.”