Rutgers baseball suffers series loss against Michigan State
The Rutgers baseball team lost its first Big Ten series of the year this weekend, losing to Michigan State 2 games to 1 in East Lansing, Michigan. The Scarlet Knights (19-9, 1-2) sparred with the Spartans (12-14, 3-3) back and forth all weekend, with Michigan State squeaking out the series win in the rubber match on Sunday.
Game 1: Rutgers wins 4-2
This season, Rutgers has made it its identity to jump out to an early lead and let its high-powered offense take control. This was not the case for Friday's game, where the Knights battled back from being down 2-0 to steal the win.
After a scoreless top of the first, the Spartans jumped out to a 2-0 lead. A two-out rally saw Christian Williams and Ryan McKay each knock in a run to put Michigan State up early.
From the second inning to the seventh, McLane Baseball Stadium at Kobs Field saw no runs scored and just eight hits between the two teams. The two teams' respective aces battled as Rutgers' senior left-handed pitcher Justin Sinibaldi and the Spartans' Joseph Dzierwa both threw five scoreless innings after the first.
After seven innings of no scoring for the Knights, junior outfielder RJ Johnson Jr. took matters into his own hands, blasting a two-run shot over the right field fence to cap off a long at-bat and tie the game up late.
"It was awesome," Johnson Jr. said after the game. "We were just trying to string some at-bats together late in that game there that was helpful to the team, and I was lucky enough to just get a pitch I can handle and hit it."
Redshirt freshman left-handed pitcher Donovan Zsak entered in the eighth to pitch yet another scoreless inning. Zsak was later credited with the win for Rutgers.
To finish off the comeback, senior infielder Cameron Love had the second biggest hit of the game, scoring two runners on base and putting the Knights up 4-2 in the top of the ninth. After that, graduate student right-handed pitcher Joey DeChiaro was credited with his fourth save of the season as he entered in the bottom of the ninth to close out the game with two strikeouts.
Game 2: Rutgers loses 5-2
After a motivating comeback on Friday, Rutgers failed to take the series on day two. Despite out-hitting Michigan State eight hits to six, the Knights couldn't get much going offensively.
Sophomore right-handed pitcher Christian Coppola got the nod for day two, pitching five innings and letting up four runs on four hits with four walks and five strikeouts. Coppola was credited with the game two loss and now holds a 4-2 record.
After two scoreless innings, the Spartans got on the board first. Michigan State went up 3-0 in the bottom of the third after Jack Frank sent a three-run shot over the right field fence for the Spartans.
A scoreless fourth for both teams led to Rutgers finally picking up a run in the top of the fifth after graduate student infielder Johnny Volpe connected for his first home run of the season, tanking the ball over the left field fence and putting the Knights down two.
Redshirt sophomore infielder Tony Santa Maria scored on a sacrifice fly in the following frame as Rutgers entered the bottom of the sixth down just one run.
Graduate student right-handed pitcher Jake Marshall entered for Coppola midway through the sixth following a pair of hits from Michigan State. The Spartans then hit a sacrifice fly to extend their lead back to two, going up 4-2 at the end of the sixth. After a 1-2-3 top of the seventh, Michigan State struck once again. A combination of hits and a walk led to the Spartans taking a 5-2 lead after seven innings.
The miraculous late-inning comeback seen on Friday was absent in game two, with a scoreless eighth and ninth closing out the loss for the Knights and forcing a day three rubber match.
Game 3: Rutgers loses 3-2
A hard-fought game three from both teams down the stretch started slow, with both sides going scoreless in the first two innings.
Freshman right-handed pitcher and infielder Zack Konstantinovsky was strong on the mound, pitching six scoreless innings and allowing just six hits.
Unlike in games one and two, it was Rutgers that started the scoring this time. A single up the middle from junior infielder Josh Kuroda-Grauer scored sophomore outfielder Trevor Cohen to put the Knights up 1-0 in the third.
Following Kuroda-Grauer's run-scoring hit was another scoring drought that lasted until the seventh inning. In that time, Rutgers' infielders made numerous outstanding plays to keep Michigan State off the board.
In the bottom of the third, Santa-Maria made a bare-handed grab with the bases loaded to keep the Spartans from scoring. In the bottom of the sixth, the middle infield pair of Kuroda-Grauer and Love executed a near-impossible double-play to end the inning.
To start the seventh, it was the Knights once again ending the scoring drought. Cohen slapped a two-out double to score freshman catcher Jackson Natili and extend Rutgers' lead to 2-0, a lead that would turn out to be very short-lived.
Zsak entered for Konstantinovsky in the bottom of the seventh, letting up two hits and a run before getting pulled for junior left-handed pitcher Joe Mazza. Michigan State's awoken bats were able to pick up a second run and tie the game before Mazza ended the inning with two clutch strikeouts.
The Knights left a man on third in the top of the eighth before Gorski entered and shut down the surging Spartans. Rutgers went down 1-2-3 in the ninth, and Michigan State completed the comeback after McKay singled off of DeChiaro with two outs to score a runner from second.
The Knights will now travel back home for a pair of out-of-conference games against Hofstra and Marist. The game against the Pride (10-17, 2-4) will start at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, and the game against the Red Foxes (7-19, 2-4) will take place at 6 p.m. on Wednesday. Both games will be broadcast on Big Ten Plus and 88.7 WRSU-FM.
For more updates on the Rutgers baseball team, follow @TargumSports on X.
To view more of Philip Jaccoma's work, follow @PJaccoma on X.
