April 22, 2017 Box Score
IOWA CITY, Iowa - In a game televised on Big Ten Network, Rutgers baseball used production from the bottom of the order and a quality start by sophomore Serafino Brito to claim a 5-3 road win over Iowa Saturday at Banks Field. The Scarlet Knights have won three of their last four Big Ten games and handed the Hawkeyes just their second home loss in 14 outings this season.
Brito (3-6) picked up his second-straight conference victory by allowing just one run in six innings, stranding eight on base. The right-hander struck out four, scattered nine hits and walked just one in the 92-pitch performance. Senior Ryan Fleming followed up by recording five outs without permitting a run from the bullpen, while sophomore Ryan Wares stranded an inherited runner in the eighth and recorded an out in the ninth. Closing it out, fifth-year senior Max Herrmann held onto the lead by ringing up the final two batters of the game.
At the plate, Rutgers (14-22, 3-5) totaled all 10 of its hits from the last five spots in the batting order. Junior Chris Folinusz led the lineup with three hits, with senior Christian Campbell, sophomore Carmen Sclafani and junior Milo Freeman all notching two apiece. Freshman Kevin Welsh added a safety squeeze for an RBI. RU had six of its hits with a runner on, including a pair with two outs to knock in a run.
Chris Whelan hit a solo home run to put Iowa (23-14, 6-5) ahead in the third, but Rutgers answered with two runs in the next half inning to take the lead. Sophomore Mike Martinez started it off with a one-out walk to bring up senior Tom Marcinczyk, who hit a grounder to the pitcher that was misplayed and thrown away to put two runners in scoring position. Campbell put together a constructive at bat by hitting an RBI grounder to shortstop with the infield back. Next up, Folinusz came through with a two-out RBI single to make it 2-1.
Freeman sparked another run in the fifth by hitting a leadoff double and moving up when Welsh laid down a sacrifice bunt. A passed ball permitted Freeman to score.
After Brito stranded two in scoring position, Campbell and Sclafani both hit doubles in the sixth to make it a three-run game. Sclafani's two-bagger came with two outs.
In the seventh, Fleming and Folinusz teamed up for a strikeout-caught stealing double play to escape the inning. Then in the eighth, Wares came on with a man in scoring position and broke off a sharp curveball for called strike three to strand an inherited runner.
The Scarlet Knights plated an insurance run in the top of the ninth. Folinusz lined a single and Sclafani laid down a bunt hit to put two on right away. However, a pickoff went down as the first out before Freeman roped a single to left-center to put runners at the corners. In the next at bat, Welsh executed a safety squeeze to bring in Sclafani.
Whelan hit his second homer of the game in the bottom of the ninth, but Herrmann struck out the next two to seal the victory. It was the 10th road win of the season for Rutgers.
Ryan Erickson (1-2) took the loss for the Hawkeyes with one earned run permitted over six-plus innings. UI left nine on base altogether.
The rubber game of the series is set for Sunday at 1 p.m. ET on BTN Plus. Junior John O'Reilly is scheduled to start on the mound for the Scarlet Knights.
NOTES
Rutgers baseball won a game on Big Ten Network for the first time ... the last five hitters in the order combined to hit 10-for-17 with two walks and four RBIs ... Brito has walked one or less hitters in 16-of-19 career starts ... RU improved to 11-4 this season when holding the opponent to five runs or less ... the game lasted three hours, 13 minutes in front of an attendance of 1,020.
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