COLUMBUS, Ohio – Rutgers baseball won Friday's series opener at Ohio State in rule-rule fashion by a score of 17-4 at Bill Davis Stadium.
The Scarlet Knights (19-23, 8-11) scored early and often to overpower the Buckeyes (10-29, 2-17) and open the road trip with a victory.
Peyton Bonds had a career day for RU, going 4-for-5 with a home run, two doubles and a career-high six RBIs. He was a triple shy of the cycle after his first three at-bats and settled for another RBI double in the sixth to put an exclamation point on his day.
In the top of the first inning, Jack Sweeney opened the scoring with a bases-loaded walk to make it 1-0. An infield single from Ty Doucette made it 2-0 in the second and Peyton Bonds followed with a two-run double to push the lead to 4-0.
OSU got back a pair in the third on a two-run single to tighten the game up at 4-2.
In the top of the fourth, Bonds launched a three-run homer to make it 7-2. Despite the Buckeyes scoring once in the fourth, a great defensive play limited the damage to just one run. Doucette snagged a grounder moving to his right and sliding, he flipped it to JT Thompson behind him who then threw over to Landon Mack to end the inning and strand the bases loaded.
A Pablo Santos single in the fifth made it 8-3 before four more scored in the sixth to erase all doubt. Bonds laced another RBI double and drove in his sixth run of the game to make it 9-3. Sweeney beat out an infield single to make it 10-3, Thompson scored on a wild pitch to make it 11-3 and Sweeney scored on an RBI groundout to make it 12-3.
After a lightning delay of just over an hour, OSU got a run back with a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth.
In the top of the eighth, Santos put the 10-run rule in play with a two-run double to make it 14-4. Doucette followed with a three-run homer – his team-best ninth of the season – to make it 17-4.
Nolan Peel finished off the victory with a nine-out save, pitching the final three innings after the weather delay and giving up one run with three strikeouts.
Landon Mack earned the win on the mound with five strong innings, giving up three runs on seven hits with seven strikeouts.
Notes
- Ty Doucette recorded his 20th multi-hit game of the season.
- Trevor Cohen recorded his 20th multi-hit game of the season and 12th in just 19 Big Ten games.
- Peyton Bonds recorded a season-high four hits and his 11th multi-hit game of the season.
- Bonds has reached base in a team-high 16 straight games.
- Pablo Santos recorded his 13th multi-hit game of the season.
- Nolan Peel recorded his first save of the season.
- Landon Mack struck out at least seven batters for the third consecutive game.
Career Highs
Game two between Rutgers and Ohio State is set for 1 p.m. Saturday on Big Ten Plus.
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