PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers baseball picked up a doubleheader sweep over Illinois on Friday afternoon at Bainton Field.
The Scarlet Knights (23-24, 11-12) used a consistent barrage of offense across both games to clinch the series over the Fighting Illini (26-18, 12-11).
Game 1 Recap
RU fell in an early hole, with a single, walk and three-run home run giving Illinois a 3-0 lead before an out was recorded.
Despite the early hole, the Rutgers offense chipped away and stayed in the fight.
Ty Doucette got the Scarlet Knights on the board with his team-best 10th home run of the season to make it 3-1 in the bottom of the first.
In the bottom of the third, Brennan Hyde laced an RBI double to left-center to make it a one-run game at 3-2.
RU tied it up on an RBI triple from Matt Chatelle in the fourth – the first of his career. A wild pitch scored Chatelle and gave Rutgers a 4-3 lead. Hyde then beat out an infield single and Yomar Carreras scored on a passed ball, making it 6-3 in favor of Rutgers after four.
An RBI groundout for the Illini made it 6-4, but RU responded with another run on a wild pitch to take a 7-4 lead after five.
Illinois battled back to tie the game at 7-7 with its second three-run homer of the game in the top of the sixth.
Despite the rally from the Illini, Rutgers came right back to take the lead in the next half inning. Ty Doucette lifted a sac fly to score RJ Johnson Jr. and Trevor Cohen drove in another with a single – his 200th career hit – to make it 9-7.
Luke Fithian battled through three innings of relief and silenced the Illini bats with two strikeouts in a 1-2-3 seventh.
Quinn Berglin came in for the eighth and delivered a six-out save for the second straight game after doing the same in Tuesday's win at UConn.
Game 2 Recap
The Scarlet Knight bats started off game two on fire, hitting four straight singles to start the bottom of the first. Doucette had an RBI knock to open the scoring and Pablo Santos lifted a sac fly to make it 2-0 early.
In the bottom of the third, an infield single from Cohen scored Hyde and an RBI single from Santos scored Doucette to push the advantage to 4-0.
An RBI single from the Illini made it 4-1 in the fifth, but RU responded with a two-run triple from Santos in the fifth to expand the lead to 6-1.
Illinois kept fighting back, hitting a three-run homer in the sixth and solo home run in the seventh to get within a run at 6-5. Cohen would deliver the big insurance run, hitting a sac fly to push the advantage to 7-5.
Ryan Bradley came in with two men out and two outs in the fourth with the tying run at the plate but got a groundout to strand a pair and end the frame. Bradley then threw a scoreless fifth and would earn the win – his first as a Scarlet Knight.
Matthew Cruz came in for the seventh and threw a scoreless frame thanks in part to a double play turned by Doucette on a line drive to first.
Nolan Peel finished off the victory with two scoreless innings, yielding no hits and striking out two for his second save of the season.
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