ROCK HILL, S.C. – Rutgers baseball opened the 2024 season with a 14-5 win at Winthrop on Friday evening in Rock Hill. The Scarlet Knights (1-0) overcame an early 5-0 deficit and used a strong offensive effort to defeat the Eagles (0-1).

Winthrop got out to an early lead on a wild pitch in the first inning, followed by a four-spot in the second after a throwing error and two-out single each scored a pair to make it 5-0. After RU starter Christian Coppola settled in, the Scarlet Knight lineup took the game over, scoring in each of the final six innings. 

The tide turned in the fourth, with Rutgers scoring five to take the lead. It started with a Tony Santa Maria two-run home run, which scored RJ Johnson Jr. and made it 5-2. Johnny Volpe added another pair on a two-run single into right-center before Cameron Love tied it up with a single right back up the middle. 

Santa Maria gave RU the lead for good in the fifth, blasting his second home run of the game off the batter's eye in center to make it 6-5. 

Coppola would finish the fifth earn the victory and go to 1-0. He finished with 5.0 innings, giving up five runs (one earned) on six hits, one walk and four strikeouts. 

The Scarlet Knights added two in the sixth on a booming two-run double to left field off the bat of Johnson Jr. 

In the bottom of the sixth, Jake Marshall took the ball for RU and would finish off the win to earn the save. Entering with a three-run lead, Marshall pitched 4.0 scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and striking out six with no walks. Marshall and Coppola combined for 10 strikeouts to just one walk on the day. 

Volpe added another in the seventh with an infield single to make it 9-5. Love blasted a solo home run in the eighth, followed by a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch and three-run double from Santa Maria in the ninth to make it 14-5.

In his first game in a Rutgers uniform, Volpe went 3-for-5 with three RBIs, a run scored and four stolen bases. Trevor Cohen added another three hits and two runs, with four different Scarlet Knights collecting three hits (Johnson Jr., Santa Maria, Cohen, Volpe).

Game two of the series is set for 2 p.m. on Saturday. 

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