OMAHA, Neb. – The Rutgers baseball team (13-4) used a combination of dominant pitching and opportunistic offense to even its series against Nebraska Omaha (6-12) on Saturday afternoon, winning by a score of 7-1.
 
Brian Fitzpatrick gave Rutgers another strong effort on the mound, throwing 5.0 scoreless innings with six strikeouts and no walks to earn the win and improve his record to 2-1.
 
He was relieved by Garrett French, who came in to throw 2.0 scoreless innings to keep the Mavericks off the scoreboard through seven innings of play.
 
After Omaha loaded the bases in the 8^th with two outs, Nate McLain entered the game and induced a soft groundout to second to get out of a jam.
 
Parker Scott finished off the game, tossing a one-run ninth inning to close out the win.
 
"Our pitching has been really good this week," head coach Steve Owens said. "We've gotten two good starts. Garrett and Nate came into a big spot and got outs. Parker was able to get us three outs without having to use any other guys."
 
On offense, the Scarlet Knight bats were able to rebound after being shut out in the series opener. After a two-out walk by Danny DiGeorgio in the first inning, Nick Cimillo drove him in with an RBI double to put RU ahead 1-0.
 
In the 6^th inning, Evan Sleight blasted a solo home run to make it 2-0, before a Garrett Callaghan two-run homer two batters later doubled the lead to 4-0.
 
In the 7^th, an RBI single by DiGeorgio and two-run home run by Tony Santa Maria would all but put the game away.
 
"The offense was better today," Owens said. "We scored all but one of our runs with two outs. We got the home run from Evan to give us some breathing room. Garrett's home run was a big hit. The home runs were important today."
 
"Our pitching has been really good this week. We've gotten two good starts. Garrett and Nate came into a big spot and got outs. Parker was able to get us three outs without having to use any other guys.
 
The win on Saturday evened up the series with Omaha at one game apiece. Rutgers will look to win the series on Sunday afternoon at noon.
 
"It's hard to win a series on the road," Owens said. "Tomorrow is our last day and I'm fully expecting that our guys will give everything that they've got. Hopefully we play well and go home 14-4."
 

SCORING

 

UP NEXT

The Scarlet Knights look to take the series against the Mavericks in the finale on Sunday at 12:00 p.m. ET.
 
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 Scarlet Knights App via the app store or play store.