MT. PLEASANT, S.C. – Rutgers baseball opened the weekend winning a 5-4 thriller in 10 innings against George Mason in South Carolina.
After leading 2-0 going into the ninth, the Scarlet Knights gave up 3 runs to the Patriots in the top half. RU fought right back, with
Evan Sleight leading off the inning with a single and coming in to tie the game on a sac fly from
Danny Melnick.
George Mason took the lead back in the 10th with an RBI single to go ahead 4-3.
Cameron Love led off the 10th with an infield single after a long battle.
Ryan Lasko bunted him to second and
Hugh Pinkney tied the game by blasting an RBI triple into the right-center gap.
With Pinkney on third and one out,
Chris Brito walked off the game with a deep sac fly to dead center, giving RU the 5-4 victory.
Drew Conover got the start for Rutgers and was dominant, holding GMU scoreless over six frames. Conover finished the day with 6.0 innings, three hits, no runs, no walks and seven strikeouts.
Sam Portnoy struck out three in a scoreless eighth, while
Grant Besser entered for the eighth and ninth. After the Patriots pushed a run across with no outs in the ninth,
Sam Bello came in and got the final three outs. Bello also pitched the top of the 10th and earned the win to go 1-0 on the season.
Rutgers returns to action on Saturday in the Swig and Swine Classic against Ball State at noon.
Follow Rutgers Baseball on Social Media
