Sports
Rutgers squanders late lead, falls in extra innings
It was a quick trip down to South Orange for the Rutgers baseball team (14-17, 2-4) to play a Tuesday afternoon showdown against Seton Hall (23-10, 1-2,) but it turned out to be a longer game than anticipated.
Playing their best baseball of the season and winning six of their last eight games heading into the matchup gave the Scarlet Knights some confidence, but they ultimately fell 7-6 to an in-state rival in a wild extra-inning contest.
After leading 6-2 entering the ninth inning, the Pirates staged a 4-run rally to tie the game at 6-6, and then scored the winning run in the 10th inning.
The one-run defeat was the seventh loss in such fashion this season, as the Knights have found themselves in many winnable games only to come up just short.
Sophomore pitcher John O’Reilly (0-2) made his seventh start of the season for the Knights, and turned in a solid outing after running into some early trouble.
He gave up two runs in the first inning, but settled down to complete five innings, striking out four and leaving with a 4-2 lead.
His performance put the Knights in position to win, which is what head coach Joe Litterio is always looking to get from his starting pitchers.
Senior catcher R.J.Apr 13 2016