PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers baseball erased an early 7-0 deficit and scored 9 unanswered runs and beat NJIT by a score of 9-7 on Wednesday afternoon at Bainton Field.
The Scarlet Knights (13-11) slugged three home runs, while the back end of the bullpen combined for 6.0 scoreless innings and 11 strikeouts to complete the comeback over the Highlanders (5-16).
NJIT wasted no time getting to work, scoring a pair in the first inning after loading the bases with no outs. A 2-run single in the third made it 4-0. The Highlanders then hit back-to-back home runs in the top of the fourth to stretch the lead to 7-0.
After a number of hard-hit balls found the NJIT defense, the Rutgers lineup found a breakthrough in the bottom of the fifth.
First up was
Evan Sleight, who launched a deep home run over the trees in right field for a solo shot and his team-best fifth of the season. Later in the frame,
Hugh Pinkney drew a walk to set the stage for fellow true freshman
Maximus Martin. With two outs, Martin hit his third home run of the season, good for his second big fly in as many games, which made the game 7-3.
In the sixth,
Chris Brito led things off with a towering solo home run to left field to make it 7-4. The line began moving for RU, who would ultimately plate 5 runs in the frame.
With a pair of runners on, the Highlanders threw away a grounder, allowing Sleight to score and make it 7-5. Martin drove in his third run of the game with an RBI single into left field.
Ryan Lasko then tied the game with a sac fly. An infield single from
Trevor Cohen with two outs brought home Martin and gave the Scarlet Knights an 8-7 lead.
Cam Love made it 9-7 later in the game when he came home on a wild pickoff throw in the eighth.
All the meanwhile, the Rutgers bullpen settled in and was posting zeroes.
John Modugno tossed a scoreless fourth with a pair of strikeouts.
Sam Portnoy would earn the win after throwing 2.0 perfect innings with four strikeouts.
Grant Besser added another two punchouts in a scoreless seventh.
Ben Gorski struck out a pair in the eighth before making way for
Joe Mazza. Mazza earned his second save of the season, this one a four-out effort to lock down the victory.
Rutgers now turns the page to Big Ten play, with Michigan State coming to town for a three-game series at Bainton Field beginning on Friday.
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