HC Joe Litterio talks game one loss to Minnesota

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The Scarlet Knights baseball team suffered a tough loss today as the Miinesota Golden Gopher held Rutgers to just four hits in a 4-0 win.

“Minnesota is a solid baseball club,” Litterio told TKR. “They are number eleven in the country for a reason, and they played like it. They don’t give you any extra out and they make the big plays when they need too. You have to earn everything.”

One of the things that the Scarlet Knights struggled with was swinging at a lot of balls way too early in the count, which led to Minnesota’s pitcher to only throw 93 pitches through eight innings.

“We have to do a better job in the count at the plate and work the count a little better,” said Litterio. “That kid who pitched for Minnesota did a real good job at keeping us off balance and got some early outs for them. We have to do a better job. We only struck out five times, but we have to make better contact on the ball.”

Despite the tough loss, the team still managed to get a solid performance out of starting pitcher John O’Reilly.

“Every Friday night he just goes out there and pounds the zone,” Litterio said. “He’s been doing it for four years now. Every time he’s out there he’s going to give you a chance to win. Minnesota is a good ball club and he did an outstanding job only allowing four runs, he did a good job keeping it where it was.”

Next up for the Scarlet Knights they take on the Golden Gophers again tomorrow in game two of the three game series. Serafino Brito will be making the start tomorrow in place of Harry Rutkowski who has been in a slump as of late.