Battled with Bucs: Rutgers baseball overcomes 1st game struggles with series win against Charleston Southern
The Rutgers baseball team won two straight games for a comeback series win this weekend against Charleston Southern. The Scarlet Knights (8-2, 0-0) put up 26 runs on the Buccaneers (5-6, 0-0), winning the series 2-1 after blowing a 5-0 lead in game one.
Game 1: Rutgers loses 11-8
Rutgers' bats were red-hot early, smacking four hits for five runs to start the first inning. The Knights have scored first in a majority of their outings, a part of their game that has been key to their early season success.
Junior infielder Josh Kuroda-Grauer started the scoring for Rutgers, slapping a double up the middle with the bases loaded to score junior outfielder RJ Johnson Jr. and sophomore outfielder Trevor Cohen. The Knights would tack on another two runs courtesy of a double from senior infielder Cameron Love and a fifth run after a sacrifice grounder from sophomore catcher and outfielder Hugh Pinkney.
Sophomore right-handed pitcher Christian Coppola started on the mound for Rutgers, letting up three runs in the bottom of the first. The Knights added on in the third, scoring two on a double from Johnson Jr. to bring the score to 7-4.
The two teams would then go back and forth following the top of the third, scoring one run apiece in the fourth inning. Coppola was pulled for graduate student right-handed pitcher Jake Marshall in the process. Coppola pitched for 3.1 innings while allowing six runs and nine hits with six strikeouts.
Up two runs with the score at 8-6, Rutgers' bats would cool down to an icy blue, getting just three more hits for the rest of the game. Charleston Southern put up five unanswered runs in the last five innings, two of which were unearned.
Marshall finished the game with six strikeouts but was credited with his first loss.
Game 2: Rutgers wins 9-1
The Knights bounced back after a sloppy game one, rattling off nine runs on nine hits in the second game of the day against the Buccaneers.
Senior left-handed pitcher Justin Sinibaldi was the star of game two, pitching eight near-perfect innings and only allowing one run on four hits. Sinibaldi was in the mood for pastries, throwing up breadsticks (11) in the strikeout column and a doughnut (0) in the walks column.
After trading zeros for two innings, Rutgers started the scoring with a Kuroda-Grauer run-scoring single in the third. The Knights scored two more before changing sides, then tacked on another three runs in the fourth.
Rutgers picked up a third trio of runs in the seventh, only slapping one hit but getting hit by pitches twice in the half inning to advance its base runners.
Charleston Southern would tack on a singular run in the eighth after a double from Hayden Henry to bring the final score to 9-1.
Sinibaldi was credited with the win while Kuroda-Grauer had the best bat on offense in game two, finishing with three runs, three hits and two runs batted in (RBI).
Game 3: Rutgers wins 9-7
Sunday's series finale was a nail-biter.
The Buccaneers got off to a quick lead with three runs after taking advantage of a Knights error. Rutgers, though, would punch back with six runs combined in the third and fourth innings with six run-scoring singles.
After Charleston Southern evened the score at six following the conclusion of the seventh inning, Love's RBI single gave the Knights a 7-6 lead. Once again, the Buccaneers tied the game in the bottom of the eighth inning.
In the ninth inning, Rutgers strung together three hits and scored two runs courtesy of run-scoring singles from Cohen and graduate student outfielder Pete Durocher.
Graduate student left-handed pitcher Joey DeChiaro was able to nail the door shut with a scoreless, three-strikeout bottom of the ninth to give the Knights another series win.
Nine Rutgers batters tallied a hit in the contest as the Knights totaled 15 base knocks on the day. Kuroda-Grauer had three of those hits and drove home two runs.
Rutgers will now head to Bainton Field on Livingston campus for the first time this season when it faces off against Wagner at 3 p.m. on Tuesday. Then, the Knights will travel to Greensboro, North Carolina, to take on High Point in a three-game weekend series at First National Bank Field.
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