Friday-night Canes fun turns to Sunday frustration as Gators rule again at Mark Light
Well, the first game was sure fun for the crazed capacity Miami crowd stuffed into Mark Light Field on Friday night.
By Sunday afternoon? Not so much.
Turns out Sunday’s final game of the Miami Hurricanes-Florida Gators weekend matchup was effectively over before the first out of the opening inning. Florida immediately torched University of Miami starter Jake Garland for four consecutive hits, leading to a 3-run lead the Gators never relinquished.
No. 14 Florida embarrassed No. 22 Miami 11-3 to win the three-game series in a fierce rivalry that once again belongs to the Gators. UF has won four straight series in Coral Gables dating to 2016 — and 20 of the past 27 games between the teams since the final game of the 2014 series.
“Just a disappointing loss, to say the least,’’ UM coach Gino DiMare said. “Didn’t do anything very well, starting on the mound.... You walk 14 guys, that’s not a formula for success.’’
The Canes, who won the Friday opener 5-2 and lost 8-1 Saturday, were held to seven hits Sunday and went 4 for 24 with runners in scoring position for the weekend, including 3 for 10 Sunday. The Gators outscored the Hurricanes 19-4 the past two games.
“Friday was the brand of baseball we know we’re capable of,’’ said UM outfielder Jacob Burke, who went 1 for 4 Sunday with an RBI. “Bottom line is we just didn’t play that same brand of baseball the last two days.
“Credit to Florida. They played well. This isn’t everything, it’s one series. It’s a long season.’’
UF left-handed sophomore starter Timmy Manning, a Pompano Beach native and graduate of Fort Lauderdale Cardinal Gibbons High, allowed one earned run in 4 1/2 innings. But the win went to his reliever, Blake Purnell (2-0), a St. Thomas Aquinas alum who allowed no runs and gave up two hits in 3 2/3 innings.
UM (8-3) used 10 pitchers Sunday, beginning with right-handed sophomore Garland, who entered the game 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA and left it at 2-1 with 2.51.
“For him, falling behind, I don’t think anything he was doing there was keeping them off balance,’’ DiMare said of Garland. “They were seeing the ball pretty good out of the hand.”
Florida (10-3) came out blazing Sunday. Leadoff hitter Colby Halter singled to left and Jud Fabian doubled down the left-field line to score Halter. Sterlin Thompson then singled to left-center to score Fabian to make it 2-0. Wyatt Langford’s single sent Thompson to second base.
A sac-bunt by BT Riopelle advanced both runners before Josh Rivera’s sac fly to right sent home Thompson for the 3-0 lead.
UF, which had its 14 walks thrown by eight UM pitchers, was led by Langford’s three-hit, 2 RBI-day. The Gators scored another run in the third, three in the sixth, one in the eighth and three in the ninth.
UM mounted a short-lived, two-out, third-inning rally when Dominic Pitelli singled up the middle, CJ Kayfus was hit by a pitch and Jacob Burke singled home Pitelli to make it 4-1. But Yohandy Morales, whose nine-game hitting streak ended, hit into a fielder’s choice to end the threat.
Miami scored its other two runs on a ninth-inning wild pitch and Kayfus RBI-single.
“Obviously we’d like to be more productive,’’ DiMare said. “We just didn’t swing the bat overall. Today, I was most disappointed because I just didn’t feel like we gave good at-bats.’’
The Canes next play Tuesday at FIU. First pitch is 7 p.m.
This story was originally published March 6, 2022 at 3:36 PM.
