NORFOLK, Va. – Rutgers baseball opened its series at Old Dominion with a dominant 10-3 victory on Friday night. Christian Coppola struck out nine across six quality innings and the Scarlet Knights (4-0) put across 10 runs on 15 hits to down the Monarchs (3-2) at Bud Metheney Ballpark. 

RU came out of the gates hot, scoring in each of the first three innings to jump out to a 7-0 lead. RJ Johnson walked to lead off the game and eventually came around to score on an RBI groundout from Josh Kuroda-Grauer. Later in the frame, Jackson Natili reached on an infield single and Tony Santa Maria scored when the throw to first got away. 

In the second, the Scarlet Knights loaded the bases with no outs for the top of the order. Johnson Jr. barely missed a grand slam and settled for a sac fly. Trevor Cohen and Kuroda-Grauer each singled later in the inning to make it 5-0. 

In the third, Johnny Volpe (walk) and Jordan Sweeney (single) each reached to lead off. An error and RBI single from Trevor Cohen pushed across two more to make it 7-0. 

Old Dominion got on the board in the bottom half, lifting a two-run homer over the wall in right to make it 7-2.

After the home run and a walk, Coppola would retire the next two batters via strikeout. That started a string of 11 straight Monarchs that Coppola retired to cap off his outing. 

Coppola registered a quality start, going six innings and allowing two runs on just one hit, striking out nine with three walks. He earned the win to improve to 2-0 on the season. 

Rutgers tacked on three more insurance runs in the seventh thanks to another bases-loaded rally. Kuroda-Grauer was hit by a pitch to score one, Johnson Jr. scored the second on a wild pitch and Jackson Natili drove in Santa Maria with an RBI groundout to make it three. 

Jake Marshall entered for the seventh and picked up a three-inning save – his second straight save of at least three innings after recording a four-inning save last week at Winthrop. Marshall allowed one run on two hits, while striking out four with no walks. 

A total of six Scarlet Knights had multi-hit efforts, led by Trevor Cohen who went 5-for-5 with a sac bunt and a pair of RBIs on the night. 

Game two of the series is set for 2 p.m. on Saturday and will be streamed on ESPN+.

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