PISCATAWAY, N.J. (May 13, 2022) – The No. 22 Rutgers baseball team scored in each of the first six innings en route to a 12-5 win over Bowling Green on Friday afternoon at Bainton Field.
Nick Cimillo clubbed two home runs to tie the team lead with 15, while
Jordan Sweeney hit his ninth of the season to lead the offense.
Jared Kollar (W, 8-2) and
Garrett French (4.0 IP, S, 3) combined to pitch the entirety of the win for RU.
"Jordan had really good at-bats today all day. So did Nick," head coach
Steve Owens said. "Sprinkled throughout the lineup, there were several other very good at-bats. There was some good at-bats and good continuity to the lineup. Short of swinging at a few balls and giving away some outs, they did a good job all day long. It was a good win for us on a Friday."
The Scarlet Knight offense wasted no time getting to work, as RU jumped out to a 3-0 lead after three pitches.
Ryan Lasko singled on the first pitch of the bottom of the first,
Danny DiGeorgio followed with an RBI double on the first pitch he saw before
Nick Cimillo crushed a 2-run home run to left field to put his team up 3-0.
Jordan Sweeney went opposite-field for his ninth home run of the season in the third and
Tony Santa Maria hit a ground-rule double to dead center to score Cimillo and give Rutgers a 5-0 lead.Â
The Falcons scored 3 runs on a balk and 2-run home run in the fourth, RU added a run on a double-play in the bottom of the fourth and BGSU hit a solo shot to bring the game to 6-4 in the bottom of the fifth,Â
The two-out offense showed up for the Scarlet Knights in the fifth when Josh Kuroda-Grauer single up the middle to score Cimillo.
Richie Schiekofer then drove in another 2 runs with a double into left field to increase the lead to 9-4.Â
RU added another 3 runs in the sixth on a
Danny DiGeorgio sac fly, Cimillo's second home run and a Santa Maria sac fly.
Jared Kollar started for Rutgers and earned the win to improve to 8-2. He threw 5.0 innings, allowing 4 runs on four hits, striking out five and walking two.Â
Garrett French relieved Kollar and gave the Scarlet Knights a huge boost, pitching 4.0 innings to finish the game and earn his third save of the season. After giving up a run on back-to-back doubles to start his outing, French went on to retire the next nine Falcons in order and 12 of the final 13 to finish the game. French struck out four, walked none and gave up two hits.Â
"Jared was better than he was last week. He felt better this week and that's a big improvement from where we were last week," Owens said. "Frenchy did a great job. They're a good hitting team with a lot of good left-handed hitters. He made really good pitches. It was important for us for him to stay out there and finish the game."
Rutgers and Bowling Green will wrap up their series with a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 11 a.m. At the conclusion of the second game, Rutgers will honor its graduating seniors.Â
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