PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers baseball (4-3) won its fourth-straight game with a 15-3 victory over Wagner (2-5) in the home opener at Bainton Field Tuesday. It was the earliest home game on the calendar in program history.
"I thought we were flat at the beginning of the game," head coach
Steve Owens said. "Jack gave us a good start, got the first six outs really easy. We were walked a bunch in the first and Kevin hit a three-run triple. Then we didn't do anything, even though we had scoring opportunities every inning, until Danny hit the double in the fifth and Richie in the sixth. We had 11 walks and four hit batters today, we didn't come through with the big hits to extend the lead until later."
The Scarlet Knights totaled 10 hits to go with the 11 walks and four hit batters, plus three reaching on error, to put 27 men on base. Sophomore
Richie Schiekofer tallied career highs with four RBIs and four runs scored, blasting his first collegiate homer and the first at Bainton Field this season. Senior
Kevin Welsh had a three-run triple to go with a single and a walk, while junior
Mike Nyisztor reached base 4-of-5 times with three runs scored. Eight different players had a hit and nine scored a run.
Senior
Jack Parkinson made his first start of the season and sat down the first six batters faced on just 12 pitches. He would also work the third inning. Freshman
Matt Ciccone worked a clean fourth before giving way to sophomore
Jared Bellissimo (1-0) with bases loaded in a 4-3 game in the fifth. Bellissimo, who was credited with the win, struck out both batters faced that inning to preserve the lead. Sophomore
Parker Scott stranded two inherited runners, pitching 1.2 innings overall. Both redshirt junior
Kyle Muller and fifth-year senior
Steven Acosta posted a scoreless frame to make it six shutout innings from the bullpen on the day.
"Our pitchers threw strikes and our defense played errorless," Owens said. "It was miserable with the rain, but the field held up and it was safe conditions to play in, which was pretty cool we could play through the rain. The whole field is turf, including the mound and home plate. I'm happy with the win under adverse conditions, great to win the home opener."
Nick DeCarlo (0-2) took the loss on the mound for the Seahawks.
- The Scarlet Knights jumped on top with four runs in the bottom of the first. On a full count with two outs and the bases loaded, redshirt sophomore Tim Dezzi drew ball four to force in junior Sam Owens for the first run of the game. Next up, Welsh laced a three-run triple one-hop off the wall in right-center to send in Nyisztor, Schiekofer and Dezzi to make it 4-0.
- The Seahawks scored three runs on three hits in the third to make it a one-run game.
- Rutgers expanded its lead on a two-out, two-run double by redshirt junior Danny DiGeorgio in the fifth. Sophomores Peter Serruto and Victor Valderrama had previously singled to keep the inning alive.
- In the sixth, Nyisztor led off by being hit by a pitch and advanced on a wild pitch before scoring on an RBI double by Schiekofer. Schiekofer moved over to third on another wild pitch, crossing on a sacrifice fly by sophomore Chris Brito that increased the advantage to 8-3.
- The lead swelled to 12-3 in the seventh. After DiGeorgio was hit by a pitch and Owens singled to put two on with one out, Nyisztor laced an RBI double. Owens would score on a wild pitch. Later on, both Nyisztor and Schiekofer touched home following a two-out error.
- Schiekofer launched a three-run homer to right field in the eighth that also brought in freshmen Reece Horneck and Josh Rodriguez.
- The Scarlet Knights have now won their past 12 home openers and 18 of the last 19.
- Rutgers now leads the all-time series over Wagner, 26-4-2, with wins in each of the last seven meetings.
- The Scarlet Knights have scored 52 runs over the last four games, the best four-game stretch since plating 56 from March 10-14, 2010.
- RU tallied nine two-out RBIs in the game, picking up six hits with two down.
- Freshman Reece Horneck made his collegiate debut and walked.
- The game lasted three hours and 37 minutes.
Rutgers returns to the road to face Washington State in a three-game series in Peoria, Ariz. The series opener is set for 2:10 p.m. ET on Friday.
"Four wins in a row is pretty good no matter what," Owens said. "We'll practice light Wednesday since we've been playing and traveling a lot, then we'll be back on the plane to get ready to play Washington State."
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