PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Senior
John O'Reilly pitched his first career complete game to lead Rutgers baseball to a 4-1 victory over Penn State in the Big Ten opener Friday at Bainton Field. The Scarlet Knights have now won seven of their past eight games to move to 12-7 on the season, the best start since 2001.
O'Reilly did not allow an earned run in his 41
st career start, third-most in program history, striking out six and stranding seven runners on base. The right-hander scattered five hits, held PSU to 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and retired the final 13 hitters faced. That included sitting down the side on just 13 combined pitches between the eighth and ninth innings.
Offensively, RU grouped all four of its runs in the sixth inning and totaled eight hits on the day. Junior
Carmen Sclafani had a team-high two hits, while fifth-year senior
Chris Folinusz, senior
Kyle Walker and sophomore
Kevin Welsh all knocked in runs. Walker added a single to a sacrifice fly to extend his hitting streak to 14 games.
Penn State (6-10, 0-1) broke Rutgers' streak of scoring first in nine-straight games with an unearned tally in the top of the first. An error started the game before a double and a sacrifice fly put the visitors ahead. O'Reilly was able to escape after that and stranded two more in scoring position in the second inning with a strikeout.
Justin Hagenman locked in with O'Reilly in a pitcher's duel by not allowing a hit until the bottom of the fourth. Both pitchers continued to match zeroes through the middle innings in a 1-0 ballgame. O'Reilly worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth to keep the score right there.
Then in the bottom of the sixth, Rutgers broke through with the decisive rally. Redshirt freshman
Dan DiGeorgio led off with a single up the middle and advanced on a walk drawn by freshman
Mike Nyisztor after falling behind 0-2 in the count. Junior
Nick Matera next laid down a sacrifice bunt to bring up Folinusz, who evened the game with a smash down the third base line for an RBI single. Walker followed with a sacrifice fly to put RU ahead for the first time. Keeping it going, Sclafani roped a single to left, with Folinusz aggressively taking third and Sclafani trailing to put two in scoring position with two outs. Welsh then delivered a two-run single to pad the lead.
O'Reilly prevented any runners from reaching base pitching with the three-run advantage. He ended with 11 outs in the air, nine grounders, six strikeouts and one double play for the 27 outs. Hagenman (2-2) took the loss for Penn State.
The Scarlet Knights will next seek their fourth-straight series win on Saturday in game two of the series. First pitch from Bainton Field is set for 1 p.m. and freshman
Harry Rutkowski will take the ball on the mound.
NOTES
The last complete game by a Rutgers pitcher was recorded by Howie Brey on May 13, 2016 at Maryland … RU now has 52 RBIs with two outs this season … it was the first time the Scarlet Knights won their Big Ten opener in four tries and first time starting 1-0 in league play since in the Big East in 2013 at No. 4 Louisville … Rutgers won its 12
th game of the season on April 15 last year … Matera has reached base safely in all 18 games he has played this season … the team won for the second time when scoring less than five or less runs … the five hits allowed were the least amount in a game in 2018 … DiGeorgio has scored a run in six of the last seven games and leads the lineup with 18 … O'Reilly's previous career-long start was in an eight-inning home win over Purdue in 2017 … Rutgers has won four-straight series openers for the first time since five consecutive in April 2016 ... the game-time temperature was 50 degrees … it was the quickest game for Rutgers this season at two hours, 17 minutes.
Follow Rutgers Athletics on
Facebook and Twitter
(@RUAthletics) for all of the latest news and updates. For specific updates regarding baseball, follow the program on Twitter (
@RutgersBaseball), Instagram
(@rutgersbaseball), Facebook (
/BaseballRU) and Snapchat (rutgersbaseball).
