BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Rutgers baseball fell in Friday's series to opener to Indiana, losing by a score of 8-3 at Bart Kaufman Field. 

The Scarlet Knights (24-17, 3-10) went down early, drew within a run, but the Hoosiers (23-18-1, 8-5) broke it open late to secure the win. 

Indiana struck first, hitting a three-run home run in the bottom of the first to take an early 3-0 lead. Rutgers put together a rally in the fourth, with Ty Doucette hitting a ground-rule double to left-center to score Tony Santa Maria and make it 3-1. Johnny Volpe singled in Josh Kuroda-Grauer to make it 3-2, but the Hoosiers made a pitching change and got out of the inning to limit the damage to just that. 

IU added one on a wild pitch in the fifth before a pair of two-run home runs in the bottom of the seventh made it 8-2. 

An RBI fielder's choice from Volpe made it 8-3 in the top of the eighth, but that was all for RU on the night. 

Game two between Rutgers and Indiana is set for 2 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.

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