Rutgers Baseball was back in the win column on Friday night as they won in their first game of the Swig & Swine Classic as they knocked off George Mason in walk-off fashion with a 5-4 victory in extra innings.
Seton Hall transfer Drew Conover made his second start with Rutgers and had a much better outing than his first start. Conover pitched six innings allowing three hits, no runs, no walks, and seven strikeouts.
After six strong innings from Conover, right-handed relief pitcher Sam Portnoy came in relief for the Scarlet Knights. Portnoy dominated as he threw one inning allowing no hits, no runs, no walks, and three strikeouts.
Former JUCO transfer Grant Besser came in relief for Portnoy and started well but struggled toward the end of his outing. Besser threw one inning allowing two hits, three runs, two walks, and two strikeouts.
Junior right-hander Sam Bello came in relief for Besser and earned his first win of the season. Bello threw two innings allowing two hits, one run, no walks, and two strikeouts in the Rutgers win.
At the plate, the Rutgers offense started a little slow but turned up the heat late in the game. Sophomore shortstop Josh Kuroda-Grauer had an excellent game as he went 2-3 with a double, a triple, and an RBI.
Freshman catcher Hugh Pinkney had his first two-hit game of his collegiate career including a huge clutch hit in the tenth. The Canadian catcher went 2-5 with the game-tying triple in the bottom of the tenth. He would also come across to score due to a Chris Brito sacrifice fly.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Rutgers will play again Saturday afternoon against the Ball State. The Cardinals are 2-3 on the season but is coming off a 9-0 shutout win over Merrimack in their first game of the Swig & Swine Classic. The first pitch is at noon EST.
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