Box Score

CORAL GABLES, Fla. - Fifth-year senior John Jennings (Berkeley Heights, N.J.) reached base safely all four plate appearances, including a solo home run, a double and two walks, but Rutgers baseball dropped its season opener at No. 4 Miami, 4-1, Friday at Alex Rodriguez Park. It was the seventh time in eight years that the Scarlet Knights and Hurricanes met to start the year.

On the mound, senior Howie Brey (Middletown, N.J.) (0-1) produced a quality start with three runs allowed over six innings. The left-hander fanned seven in the outing with eight hits and one walk permitted. He threw 97 pitches.

After Miami jumped on the board with one run on three singles in the first inning, Jennings blasted his second career home run over the wall in left field to even the game at one in the third. He also homered at then-No. 3 Illinois last season.

However, Willie Abreu responded with a solo long ball for the Hurricanes in the fourth for what proved to be the winning run. The Scarlet Knights threatened in the fifth when Jennings hit a leadoff double and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by junior Gaby Rosa (Perth Amboy, N.J.), but he was stranded at third after a groundout and strikeout.

Miami tacked on two insurance runs on sacrifice flies in the fifth and eighth to make it a 4-1 game. Out of the bullpen, redshirt junior Max Herrmann (Rutherford, N.J.) and freshman Serafino Brito (Oakland, N.J.) each worked an inning of relief for RU.

Thomas Woodrey (1-0) earned the win for UM with one run surrendered in a five-inning start. Abreu and Edgar Michelangeli both went 2-for-3.

Rutgers will look to even the series in game two set for Saturday at 7 p.m. on ESPN3. Redshirt junior Kyle Driscoll (Toms River, N.J.) is slated to make the start on the mound for the Scarlet Knights.

NOTES
Jawuan Harris (Pembroke Pines, Fla.), Mike Martinez (West New York, N.J.), Nick Matera (Roxbury, N.J.), Luke Bowerbank (Bernardville, N.J.) and Brito all made their collegiate debuts … in three career innings at Miami (two starts), Brey tossed 12.2 innings with four earned runs allowed and 16 strikeouts … he has now thrown 93.0 consecutive innings without allowing a stolen base, the longest streak of its kind in the nation.

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