OMAHA, Neb. (March 20, 2022) – For the second time this weekend, the Rutgers baseball team (13-5) fell on a walk-off hit to Omaha (7-12) and lost a narrow contest.
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After taking a quick 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning thanks to an RBI double from
Ryan Lasko and solo home run by
Nick Cimillo, the Rutgers bats were shut down by the Mavericks and would go scoreless for the next 11 innings of play.
Omaha cut the deficit to 1 run in the bottom of the first before tying it in the fourth. After a leadoff walk in the 12
th inning, Mike Boeve drove a double into the left-center gap to score the winning run and lead the Mavericks to a series victory.
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"There was not enough continuity on offense to put together a big inning," head coach
Steve Owens said of the game. "They pitched very well. Our guys pitched great, too. We just did not execute offensively."
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Nathan Florence got the nod on the mound for Rutgers and gave his team 4.0 innings, giving up 2 runs while striking out seven.
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Out of the bullpen,
Sam Bello (3.0),
Ben Gorski (1.0) and
Dale Stanavich (3.0) combined to throw seven scoreless innings to keep the Mavericks at bay until the 12
th.
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The series against Omaha marked the final nonconference series for the Scarlet Knights before Big Ten play. Rutgers played 17 of its first 18 games on the road, including 10 games in a different time zone.
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RU sits at 13-5 heading into a week that sees the team visit Rider for a midweek contest before opening conference play at Penn State.
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"We're a good team. They played really well this weekend," Owens said of the series. "We're 13-5. Not too many lot teams are 13-5. We learned a lot about our team this weekend. There were a lot of pitchers that really elevated their games this weekend and got to another level. We'll take the strengths that emerged this weekend and build from them."
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- T1 | After Richie Schiekofer led off the game with a single, Ryan Lasko doubles deep into the left-center gap to score Schiekofer. RU 1-0
- T1 | With the bases empty, Nick Cimillo (5) hits a deep solo home run to left field. RU 2-0
- B1 | Drew Reetz hits a solo home run (1) to left-center field for Omaha. RU 2-1
- B4 | With runners on the corners and one out, Garrett Kennedy beats out a double play for the Mavericks to score the run from third. 2-2 Tie
- B12 | With Drew Reetz on first base, Mike Boeve hits a double into the left-center field gap to score the winning run. 3-2 Omaha.
The Scarlet Knights head down to Lawrenceville to take on Rider on Tuesday at 3:00 p.m..
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