Rutgers baseball (5-1, 0-0) had a packed weekend to close out the February portion of their schedule. The Scarlet Knights participated in the Carolinas Coastline Classic, kicking off their weekend trip Friday in South Carolina against Coastal Carolina (6-1) of the Sun Belt Conference. On Saturday, they took a trip east on Ocean Highway into North Carolina for a double header with UNC Wilmington (5-2) of the Colonial Athletic Association.
Friday’s game saw Rutgers suffer their first loss of the season in a slugfest, dropping the game 15-10. They obviously had a strong showing offensively in their first ever meeting with the Chanticleers, but they struggled on the mound. Head coach Steve Owens said as much after the game:
“Our lineup was incredible tonight. The hitters did a great job of swinging at strikes, getting good counts and consistently hitting the ball hard. We had 15 hits on a Friday with 10 runs, that should be enough to win. Obviously, we pitched poorly. We didn’t control the game on the mound, poor execution in key spots.”
Sophomore Evan Sleight, DH, led the team going 3-for-4 at the plate with three RBIs. Catcher Nick Cimillo went 2-for-4 with a solo homerun, his first of the season. Six different Scarlet Knights finished the game record one or more RBIs, and seven finished with at least one hit. Rutgers had to use five different pitchers.
Only one, grad student Kyle Muller, did not allow a run in the game. Muller pitched two innings on an efficient 14 pitches, striking out two. He finished the game only allowing one baserunner on one base hit.
Rutgers moved to Saturday looking to bounce back from their first loss of the season as they took on undefeated UNCW in a double header. Game 1 saw the Scarlet Knights responding in a big way. They took down the Seahawks 12-5. Rutgers offense jumped out to an early lead, scoring eight runs over the first three innings. They added three runs over the last two in order to cap off the win. Even more…
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