Miami Hurricanes Baseball: Canes Pick Up 4-1 Opening Day Win Over Rutgers

The Miami Hurricanes have made a habit of opening up the season strong recently and on Friday night against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, that didn’t change one bit.

Behind two RBI’s from Willie Abreu and a solid outing from lefthander Thomas Woodrey, the Canes picked up their ninth straight opening day win with a 4-1 victory over their visitors from New Jersey.

“I thought it was a well-played game, really by both teams,” Coach Jim Morris said after the team’s first win of the season. “I thought it was a solid team game, the fact that we played good defense and a lot of guys got big hits for us was nice. [Woodrey] pitched well, our bullpen came in and did their job and that’s the way we like to play the game.”

In front of a packed house at Mark Light Field, Miami as they did so often last year put their opponents behind in their first opportunity at the plate. After a 1-2-3 inning from their No. 1 starter Thomas Woodrey, the “Hialeah Hero” Willie Abreu exhibited exactly why he’s earned that extraordinary nickname in his time at Miami. With runners on the corners after singles from Chris Barr and Jacob Heyward, the junior poked one right in front of the Rutgers right fielder to bring home Barr and give the Hurricanes an early 1-0 lead.

Both teams were held scoreless in the second, but in the top of the third, Rutgers second baseman John Jennings capitalized on Woodley’s only mistake of the night, crushing a home run over the left field wall to tie the game at 1-1.

With the game closer than expected, the Canes needed a spark on offense and once again it was Abreu that came through. With one out in the top of the fourth, Miami’s right fielder stroked one to the opposite field over the wall in left for the team’s first home run of the season and it gave the Canes a 2-1 lead.

“It felt good,” Abreu said when reflecting on his homer. “Anytime you can run into one like that it’s a pretty great feeling.”

After Abreu’s solo shot, Woodrey returned to the mound and was almost flawless as the senior finished off his five-inning outing allowing just four hits and one walk while striking out four.

“Woody pitched like Woody pitches,” Morris said of his starter’s performance after the game. “He didn’t have to throw that many pitches, he threw quite a few changeups to mix-in with his fastball and to be honest with you he just pitched the way he always pitches.”

After Miami’s lefthander exited the game, the Hurricanes still led just 2-1 and looked to give their bullpen some insurance runs. The inning certainly started off with a bang as freshman third baseman Romy Gonzalez picked up his first hit as a Cane with a double off the left field wall that just barely missed clearing the fence.

“I thought I had it for a second, but it was hard to get it through the wind and I’m not as big as Willie,” Gonzalez joked about his first hit after the game. “It was a great feeling to finally get on-base for the team and to get my first career hit out of the way.”

With Gonzalez on second, the Canes showed they don’t only use power to pick-up their RBI’s as they manufactured the third run of the game with a Carl Chester sacrifice bunt and a Chris Barr sacrifice fly to bring home the freshman.

With a 3-1 lead in the sixth inning, Miami brought in freshman reliever Franke Bartow for his first action as a Hurricane. The righthander give up some hard contact on a few pitches, but in his two innings of work, Bartow showed he could be a key piece that links the Hurricanes starting rotation to their late-game duo of Cooper Hammond and Bryan Garcia.

That formula worked to perfection Friday night as Hammond shut down the Scarlet Knights in the eighth and after the Canes added a fourth run with a Johnny Ruiz sacrifice fly, Bryan Garcia shut the door for his first save of the season.

It was a solid performance for the first game of the season and as Miami moves towards their highly-anticipated series with Florida, picking up wins and getting game reps are the most important things. The Hurricanes did just that Friday night and got contributions not only from their experienced players like Abreu and Woodrey, but also from their freshman like Gonzalez and Woodrey.

It may have been just Rutgers coming to The Light for Opening Day, but nine straight wins on the first day of the season is pretty impressive. If Miami’s now 57-12 all-time record against the Scarlet Knights is any indication, I don’t think that strong start will end anytime soon.