Box Score

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Freshman Milo Freeman (Millburn, N.J.) collected four hits and sophomore Gaby Rosa (Perth Amboy, N.J.) logged six effective innings on the mound as Rutgers baseball beat Purdue, 5-2, to clinch its first Big Ten series victory Sunday at Alexander Field. It was the third time in last four years the Scarlet Knights won their opening conference set on the road.

A Freshman All-America selection a season ago, Rosa (1-1) made his return to starting rotation for the first time since week one to pick up his first victory of the season and seventh of his career. The right-hander permitted just three hits and one run and retired 11 batters through the air. He threw 81 pitches in the outing.

Freshman Ryan Wares (Howell, N.J.) followed with one inning of relief, recording a looking strikeout to strand a runner at second. Sophomore Max Herrmann (Rutherford, N.J.) entered next and left the bases loaded in a scoreless eighth, while senior Jon Young (Old Bridge, N.J.) sealed the win with two strikeouts and a fly out in the ninth.

Freeman led an 11-hit offensive attack with a 4-for-4 afternoon, also stealing the first three bases of his career. Junior Chris Suseck (Flemington, N.J.) added three hits of his own to go with two runs. The Scarlet Knights also ran the suicide squeeze to success with junior R.J. Devish (Beachwood, N.J.) putting down the bunt. RU logged 33 hits on the weekend for a .314 team average.

Rutgers (5-14, 2-1) scored first for the second consecutive day with a run in the second. Freshman Kyle Walker (Piscataway, N.J.) worked a base on balls with two outs and moved up to second on a single over third by Suseck. Next up, Freeman delivered an RBI single through the right side to put the Scarlet Knights ahead early.

After Rosa worked a scoreless frame, the offense added two more to build a 3-0 advantage in the third. Senior Joe D'Annunzio (Scotch Plains, N.J.) started the situation with a lined single and sophomore Tom Marcinczyk (Middlesex, N.J.) walked. Attempting to bunt early in the count, senior Vinny Zarrillo (Forked River, N.J.) then blasted a 0-2 pitch to the right field wall for an RBI double. The rally was capped when Devish executed the suicide squeeze with a bunt to score Marcinczyk.

The lead grew to 4-0 one inning later. Suseck doubled to right-center and Freeman followed with a bunt single to put runners at the corners right away. After an out, D'Annunzio drove a run-scoring fly ball to plate Suseck.

A two-base error started the Purdue fourth, but Rosa worked around it with a quick two outs. Then the Boilermakers (9-13, 1-2) chopped a ball deep to third base, but Freeman made the play of the day by stretching to backhand to snare the ball and regather to fire across the diamond for the inning-ending putout.

Purdue did breakthrough for a two-out run in the fifth, but Rutgers responded in its half of the sixth. Suseck fouled off several pitches to eventually single, moving up to third on a well-placed hit-and-run by Freeman. Sophomore Mike Carter (Bloomfield, N.J.) lifted the third sacrifice fly of the game to make it 5-1.

It would stay that way until the bottom of the ninth when the Boilermakers scored one and brought the tying run to the dish, but Young found another gear and struck out the last two batters to clinch the win.

Starter Matt Frawley (1-3) took the loss for the hosts with four runs allowed over four innings. Purdue stranded 12 men on base during the game.

Now having completed an eight-game spring break trip, Rutgers will return home to face NJIT Tuesday at 3 p.m. The Scarlet Knights bring a 14-game home winning streak into the contest.



NOTES
This weekend marked the first Big Ten series in program history ... Rutgers improved to 5-2 when logging 10 or more hits and 4-2 when scoring first this season ... Rosa has a 2.43 ERA in nine career conference starts ... Marcinczyk has now reached base in 13 consecutive games ... the last RU player to steal three bases in a game before Freeman today was Carter at Iona on April 2, 2014 ... the defense was charged with just one error for the weekend ... Freeman ended the series hitting 5-for-6 ... the game lasted two hours, 45 minutes and the attendance was listed at 658 ... the temperature was in the 40s.

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