NORFOLK, Va. – Freshman Eric Heatter provided seven shutout innings on the mound, but Rutgers baseball fell one out short of a three-game sweep after Old Dominion scored four runs with two outs to steal the Sunday series finale, 4-3. The Scarlet Knights had won by the scores of 7-6 and 9-6 earlier in the weekend.
 
Making his second career start, Heatter left in line to win once again by fanning six in the seven innings of work. The left-hander scattered four hits and walked two, facing four over the minimum in the first start of seven or more shutout innings by a Rutgers true freshman since John O'Reilly in 2015 versus Wagner.. He has started his collegiate career with one earned run over 17 innings for a 1.59 ERA, striking out 16 and walking three in three appearances. Redshirt junior Ryan Wares followed up with a scoreless frame in setup relief.
 
Offensively, junior Luke Bowerbank led RU (5-5) at the plate with two hits and two RBIs, while redshirt freshman Dan DiGeorgio provided the other run-scoring hit.
 
The Scarlet Knights scored first in the third inning to take the early lead. Freshman Mike Nyisztor reached second base with two outs and scored when DiGeorgio lined an RBI single to right field.
 
The single tally would prove to be enough for Heatter, who faced the minimum through the first four innings, including a pair of double plays. In the fifth, he stranded two runners on base before working a perfect sixth.
 
Then in the seventh, RU tacked on two more runs to increase its advantage to three. Fifth-year senior Chris Folinusz picked up his fifth hit of the series to start and moved up on a single from senior Kyle Walker, who is hitting a team-best 10-for-22 through 10 games. A strikeout took place after a sacrifice bunt from sophomore Kevin Welsh to leave it up to Bowerbank. The outfielder came through with a two-run double to left-center to make it five two-out RBIs this season.
 
Wares worked around an error with two outs in the eighth, but the Monarch (4-7) rallied to score four runs with four hits in the bottom of the last. That included plating all four with two outs and on. Graduate student Karl Blum (0-1) took the loss for Rutgers.
 
The Scarlet Knights will return to Bainton Field Tuesday for a 2:30 p.m. game against Iona. It will be the final contest before a seven-game trip over spring break in Florida.
 
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