Baseball Comeback Halted by Indiana State

Saturday, March 23

Fort Myers, Fla. / City of Palms Park

6:00 PM

Rutgers University

5-14

Indiana State

18-2

Indiana State

Rutgers

Photo by: Brad Young/FGCU Athletics

Mar 23 | Baseball

Box Score Statistics

Murray and Acosta combine to pitch 8.2 innings of relief

FORT MYERS, Fla. – Rutgers baseball (5-14) cut a 6-0 deficit to 6-5 in the third inning, but Indiana State (18-2) used six innings of scoreless relief to close out a 7-5 victory Saturday at City of Palms Park. The Sycamores' six runs in the opening frame proved to be the difference in the game.

"It's tough to give another team a six-spot in the first inning," head coach Joe Litterio said. "We've done that before this year, but tonight was the first time I've seen our guys get angry and come back to put ourselves in the game. The bullpen did a great job. Murray and Acosta kept it a one-run game until late. The guys at the plate battled and chipped away. And defensively, Welsh played outstanding at shortstop. It was the first game I've seen us fight back like that, but we have to keep working. We are making some young mistakes and have to continue to get better."

Junior Tevin Murray entered with one out in the first and ended up working 4.2 scoreless innings of relief, matching his longest appearance this year. The left-hander struck out six and permitted one hit in the outing. Redshirt junior Steven Acosta followed with a career-high four innings. He surrendered one run, but fanned four and stranded four on base to keep Rutgers within striking distance.

At the plate, freshman Chris Brito launched his first career homer in the third, a two-run blast that made it 6-5. Redshirt freshman Tim Dezzi reached three times on a single, a double and a walk, while juniors Kevin Blum and Kevin Welsh both singled twice. RU had 10 hits offensively, with each starter picking up a hit or an RBI.

SCORING

The first seven batters reached for Indiana State on six singles and a walk, as six runs crossed in the opening frame. The sixth score was unearned after an error.
The Scarlet Knights plated one in the first after Welsh hit a one-out single, Dezzi doubled and senior Tyler McNamara picked up an RBI grounder to shortstop.
In the second, freshman Peter Serruto, senior Carmen Sclafani and Blum all singled with one out to load the bases. Sophomore Mike Nyisztor followed with a sacrifice fly and Welsh lined a two-out RBI single to center.
Brito made it a 6-5 game in the third on a two-run shot to left. Dezzi had walked two batters prior.
The Sycamores found the run column for the first time since the opening inning on an RBI double from Jake Means in the top of the eighth.

NOTES

Murray and Acosta combined to strand 10 Indiana State runners on base.
The RU pitching staff now has six games this season with 10 or more strikeouts.
Welsh has been on base in each of the last 14 games. He made six assists at shortstop.
Indiana State won for the 11^th time in 12 games and featured a lineup with eight seniors. Evan Giles (1-1) earned the win with three scoreless innings of relief and Tyler Ward collected the final five outs for his third save of the season.

UP NEXT
The series finale has been moved back to a 1 p.m. start at City of Palms Park.

BRITO BOMB! Freshman crushes his first career homer to make it a one-run game.

B3 | Indiana State 6, Rutgers 5 pic.twitter.com/IgCgoXL5X1
— Rutgers Baseball (@RutgersBaseball) March 23, 2019

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) and Facebook (/BaseballRU). For additional updates, please download the Gameday App.