Rutgers baseball finds success at home, stumbles against UConn
The Rutgers baseball team had a busy week, with back-to-back games at home last Tuesday and Wednesday, which were followed by a road trip to Connecticut. The Scarlet Knights (12-11, 0-0) stayed undefeated at home but were later swept by UConn.
Happy at home
Rutgers had a nice start to its week, as it went undefeated at home. The Knights kicked off on Tuesday, as they hosted Rider at Bainton Field on Livingston campus and completed a come-from-behind win against their New Jersey rivals.
Rutgers opened the scoring in the bottom of the third, but the Broncs (15-8, 2-1) came out in the middle innings to give themselves a 2-1 lead.
The Knights did not let that stop them, though. Junior infielder Cameron Love hit his first career home run on a solo shot in the seventh inning, tying up the game. The game ended with a 4-2 score favoring Rutgers, thanks to a bases-loaded runs batted in (RBI) walk from freshman catcher Hugh Pinkney and an RBI groundout from junior catcher Danny Melnick.
The Knights were back in action again on Wednesday when they had an offensive showdown with Lafayette. Rutgers put up 5 runs in a big second inning, with two of those runs coming from freshman infielder Maximus Martin's first career home run.
The Knights scored consistently through the rest of the match, keeping the Leopards (4-20, 1-3) from striking distance.
Lafayette scored a few runs to try and keep itself in the game, but Rutgers’ explosive offense continued to strike. The Leopards' five errors on defense helped land the final score at 13-8 in favor of the home team.
Swept by UConn
The Knights continued their week with a road trip to Storrs, Connecticut. After suffering close losses in all three games, Rutgers went winless in its series against the Huskies (16-5, 0-0).
The Knights played a double header on Friday, dropping both games. Game one had two extra innings, but Rutgers could not get enough offense to rally against UConn in a 9-8 tit-for-tat loss.
The Knights fell behind early in game two by a score of 4-1 off an opposing grand slam. Rutgers fought back, getting the score nearly even at 6-5, but it could tie the game before the final out in the ninth.
The final game of the series on Sunday was a frustrating one to end the week. The Knights seemed to be the stronger team for much of the match on Sunday, taking the early 2-0 lead and having a lot of offensive success throughout the day. Junior outfielder Ryan Lasko lead the way with 2 home runs.
Rutgers went into the bottom of the ninth inning, holding a 1-run lead over the Huskies. With two outs and two runners on base, Ben Huber hit a home run, giving UConn the walk-off victory and completing its sweep against the Knights. The Huskies scored all of their runs off the back of five home runs in the 9-7 victory.
Looking to bounce back
Rutgers will be looking to get a few more wins this upcoming week after its disappointing three-game outing against UConn. The Knights will host NJIT on Wednesday, with a 3 p.m. pitch scheduled.
Rutgers earning a victory against its in-state foe is important because, starting on Friday, the Knights will host Michigan State for a weekend set of games in their Big Ten opening series.
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