PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Behind the pitching efforts of freshman
Harry Rutkowski, freshman
Collin Kiernan and junior
Serafino Brito, Rutgers baseball blanked Penn State in a 1-0 win Saturday at Bainton Field. The Scarlet Knights claimed their fourth-straight series victory and moved to 13-7 on the season, a season-best six games over .500 with nine wins in the last 10 games. It is the best start for the program through 20 games since 2001, as it was the first 1-0 triumph since March 31, 2006 versus Villanova.
The pitching staff has yet to allow an earned run in the series against the Nittany Lions (6-11, 0-2) and in 20.1 consecutive innings dating back to last weekend. Rutkowski (3-0) picked up the win by logging a season-high 6.2 innings on the mound, striking out seven and scattering four hits. The left-hander held PSU to 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position. Kiernan followed up and left an inherited runner on third base in the seventh before working around a pair of singles in the eighth. That brought in Brito, who closed it out with a perfect ninth for his third save.
Offensively, the Scarlet Knights were held to four hits and plated one unearned run. The last time the team won without scoring an earned run was the walk-off versus Nebraska on April 29, 2016. Junior
Carmen Sclafani reached all three times with two doubles and a walk, scoring the eventual winning run in the second inning.
Rutkowski started off retiring six of the first seven batters faced. In the bottom of the second, Sclafani doubled to right field with one out and stayed there following a fly out. Next up, junior
Luke Bowerbank grounded a ball to shortstop and the throw was muffed by the first baseman. Sclafani kept running and crossed without a play.
That 1-0 advantage ended up as the difference. Rutkowski faced a jam in the fourth with two in scoring position with one out, but came through with back-to-back swinging strikeout to quell the threat. The rookie tossed a 1-2-3 sixth and then faced a man at second with one down the seventh. A foul pop tracked down by fifth-year senior
Chris Folinusz went down as the second out before Kiernan entered and gathered a fly ball to sophomore
Kevin Blum in center field to escape.
Consecutive singles with one down in the eighth put runners on for Penn State once again, with Kiernan denying by inducing a foul pop to Sclafani at third and a strikeout. Brito mowed down the side in the ninth helped by a running catch by freshman
Mike Nyisztor at the left field wall to start. A called strikeout ended the game.
Taylor Lehman (2-2) took the loss for the visitors despite not permitting an earned run over six innings. RU has now won two of the first three Big Ten series against PSU.
The Scarlet Knights will next seek their first sweep in league play since entering the Big Ten. Freshman
Eric Heatter will make the Sunday start scheduled for 1 p.m. at Bainton Field.
NOTES
The last shutout recorded by Rutgers was also against Penn State on April 22, 2016 … the Scarlet Knights did not commit an error in the field for the first time this season … senior
Kyle Walker connected for a pinch hit to extend his hitting streak to 15 games … both teams combined to hit 0-for-17 with runners in scoring position with PSU making nine outs and RU eight … the last time RU was six games over .500 was at 30-24 in May 2014 and the previous time achieving the mark in March was in the 2001 season … Rutgers won its 13
th game of the season on April 16 last year … the Scarlet Knights last won four consecutive series when claiming six in a row from March to April 2010 … the game-time temperature was 52 degrees … the contest lasted two hours, 42 minutes in front of a season-high crowd of 566.
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).
