April 22, 2016 Box Score
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Senior Howie Brey (Middletown, N.J.) pitched a five-hit shutout to give Rutgers baseball a 5-0 win over Penn State in the series opener Friday at Bainton Field. It was the third complete game in four outings for the left-hander.
The victory moved the Scarlet Knights to .500 for the first time this season at 19-19, also improving to 4-6 in the Big Ten and 10-1 at Bainton Field. The Nittany Lions had their four-game Big Ten winning streak halted to drop to 23-16 overall and 8-5 in the league.
Pitching all nine innings for the third consecutive Big Ten start, Brey (5-3) won his fourth-straight game to earn his 17th career victory. The lefty struck out seven and walked just one in the 110-pitch outing, retiring 15 of the last 16 batters faced. It was his first nine-inning shutout, as his previous blanking went for seven innings due to a 10-run mercy rule versus USF in 2014.
In addition, Brey moved up to a tie for fourth in program history with 183 career strikeouts, while sitting sixth in the school record books with 263.1 innings pitched. He also extended his streak without allowing a stolen base to 159.1 frames after senior R.J. Devish (Beachwood, N.J.) teamed up to catch a runner in the third inning.
At the plate, the Scarlet Knights pounded out 13 hits of support, with seven of those coming with two outs. Devish, fifth-year senior Chris Suseck (Flemington, N.J.), freshman Jawuan Harris (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) and junior Gaby Rosa (Perth Amboy, N.J.) all had two hits, while junior Tom Marcinczyk (Middlesex, N.J.) knocked in two runs. Junior Mike Carter (Bloomfield, N.J.) scored twice in three treks to the bases to extend his on-base streak to 12 games, with classmate Christian Campbell (Sayreville, N.J.) also walking twice and singling. The bats struck out just two times to tie a season low.
Harris picked up two more stolen bases to bring his season total to 29, which passes Eric Young (1989) for third-most in a season in school history. Suseck also added a swipe to bring the team mark to 85. That is fifth in a year in the RU record books.
Welcoming Penn State to campus for the first time since 1987, each side went down scoreless until Rutgers broke through for a pair of runs in the third. Carter walked with two outs and moved up when Suseck lined a single. Next up, Marcinczyk lifted a towering fly to right field that was lost in the clouds and fell in for a two-run triple.
That would prove to be all the support Brey would need, but the Scarlet Knights added another in the fifth following an inning where PSU left two in scoring position. Devish singled through the right side to start, advancing on a bunt by Carter. A wild pitch ensued, with Suseck roping an RBI single to center on a 3-0 pitch to increase the lead to three.
Rutgers broke open the game with a pair of runs in the seventh. Carter walked with no outs and ran to second on a wild pitch. However, the next two went down to bring up Harris, who took advantage of the situation and hit an RBI single up the middle. He then quickly stole second despite a pitchout, scoring on a single by fifth-year senior John Jennings (Berkeley Heights, N.J.) one pitch later.
In the top of the ninth, Brey surrendered his first walk of the day, but picked up three groundouts to secure the shutout. RU also blanked Wagner, 8-0, in its last game to make it back-to-back shutouts for the first time since March 28-29, 2013 at Villanova.
Taylor Lehman (1-7) suffered the loss for the Nittany Lions with nine hits, three runs and four walks permitted over six innings. PSU suffered their third shutout loss in conference play this season, going 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and 1-for-9 with a runner on base.
The Scarlet Knights will look for the series win in game two set for Saturday at 1 p.m. Sophomore John O'Reilly (Northvale, N.J.) is scheduled to make the start on the mound. Both BTN Plus and WRSU 88.7-FM will have the coverage live from Bainton Field.
NOTES
Rutgers improved to .500 for the first time this season on its sixth attempt ... the team is up to three shutouts this season and has not allowed a run in the last 19 innings ... the offense put the leadoff hitter on four times ... RU now has 15 games this season with at least three steals ... the Scarlet Knights also started the 2010 season with a 10-1 record at Bainton Field ... Rutgers has won 16 of its last 18 at home dating back to last season ... the team is 10-4 in April ... Brey is up to seven career complete games and is 10-2 in 21 outings at home ... he has pitched a complete in his last three home conference starts (Iowa, Indiana, Penn State) ... Marcinczyk has a team-leading 32 RBIs, with 17 coming with two outs ... he tripled for the 11th time, tying Glen Gardner (1986-88) and Johnny Defendis (2003-05) for ninth-most in school history ... Rutgers has matched its win total from last season in just 38 games ... RU is now 14-0 when having more hits than the opponent, reaching double-digits in the hits column for the 15th time in 2016 ... it was the 11th win by at least five runs this year ... Rutgers won its fourth consecutive weekend opener for the first time since 2013 (Connecticut, Houston, Hartford, Cincinnati) ... Tyler Gebler was the last Rutgers pitcher to toss a nine-inning shutout (March 29, 2013 at Villanova) ... the game lasted two hours, 11 minutes, the shortest game at Bainton Field this season.
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