EVANSTON, Ill. – Rutgers baseball defeated Northwestern by a score of 11-7 to clinch the weekend series at Rocky Miller Park in Evanston.
The Scarlet Knights (22-16, 5-5) launched four home runs to overpower the Wildcats (6-27, 3-8) and win a Big Ten series for the second straight week after taking two-of-three from Michigan last week.
For the second straight day, the RU bats wasted no time getting to work. After
Trevor Cohen singled in the first,
Chris Brito doubled him home to make it 1-0.
Evan Sleight followed with a double of his own to push the lead to 2-0.
While Northwestern plated an unearned run in the bottom of the first, Rutgers answered with a big third inning to take control of the game.
Josh Kuroda-Grauer led off the frame with a single, setting the stage for
Ryan Lasko, who launched his ninth home run of the season to make it 4-1. Two batters later, Sleight teed off for his second homer of the weekend and team-leading 11th of the season, making it 6-1.
The Rutgers bats went right back to work in the fourth, with Kuroda-Grauer hitting a towering shot over the left field wall to score
Maximus Martin and make it 8-1.
Brito (double) and
Hugh Pinkney (groundout) each drove in a run in the seventh to make it 10-2. Kuroda-Grauer then hit his second home run of the game in the eighth, a solo shot to make it 11-2 and give him the first multi-home run game of his career.
Grant Besser made his third consecutive weekend start and earned his first win in a start. He pitched 5.0 innings, allowed two runs (one earned) on three hits, while striking out three and walking two.
Ben Gorski entered with two runners on base in the ninth and recorded three strike outs to clinch the victory and series for RU.
The series finale between Rutgers and Northwestern is set for 1 p.m. ET on Sunday afternoon.
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