OMAHA, Neb. (May 29, 2022) – The Rutgers baseball team played in the Big Ten Championship Game on Sunday evening against Michigan at Charles Schwab Field. Ultimately, RU was unable to keep pace with UM's high-powered offense and fell by a score of 10-4.
After having already played a game to earn its spot in the title game, Michigan showed no signs of fatigue, as the Wolverines used a sac fly and RBI single to take a 2-0 in the top of the first.
The Scarlet Knights chipped away, getting a run back on a solo home run by
Josh Kuroda-Grauer in the bottom of the second and then tying the game in the third on an RBI triple from
Tony Santa Maria.
It was an immediate response from Michigan, who re-took the lead on a suicide squeeze play in the fourth. Matt Frey made it 4-2 with an RBI single in the fifth and then Riley Bertram made it 5-2 when he scored on a wild pitch in the fifth.
RU loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth, but a looking strikeout ended the frame. After
Ryan Lasko reached on an error and went to third on a single, he scored on a sac fly by Santa Maria.
Jimmy Obertop blew the game wide open in the top of the eighth when he crushed a 3-run home run into the wind to put UM up 8-3.
Chris Brito doubled to get on in the bottom of the eighth for Rutgers and scored on a
Richie Schiekofer groundout, but that was all the scoring for the Scarlet Knights in that frame.
Michigan added another 2 runs in the ninth to make it 10-4 and finish off the victory.
At the conclusion of the game, the conference announced that
Chris Brito and
Nathan Florence were both named to the Big Ten All-Tournament Team for their performances in Omaha.
The Scarlet Knights shift their focus to the NCAA Selection Show on Monday at noon ET. At 44-15 overall and 17-7 in the Big Ten with a second place finish, Rutgers has an RPI of 42 and has been projected safely in the field as a 3 seed by D1 Baseball and Baseball America.
