Rutgers Baseball started off the season in the win column on Friday night, defeating the Winthrop Eagles by a final score of 14-5.
Now the Scarlet Knights came out of the gates slowly, but scored fourteen unanswered runs to secure the victory. The offense caught fire towards the middle and late parts of the game, as some of their newcomers made quite impact in this game.
The return of Tony Santa Maria was the star of the game after missing the majority of the 2023 season, the former Iona transfer went 3-for-5 with two home runs and six RBIs in the win. Rutgers also got some great hitting out of Rider transfer Johnny Volpe, who went 3-of-5 with three hits and four stolen bases. On top of that, Cameron Love went 2-for-4 with a solo home run and RJ Johnson Jr. went 3-for-6 with a double and two RBIs.
Sophomore ace and right hander Christian Coppola got the start and the win for the Scarlet Knights, throwing for 5.0 innings while six hits, five runs, (one earned), one walk, and four strikeouts.
After that, Rutgers handed the ball to new transfer Jake Marshall and the senior right-hander pitched 4.0 innings allowing one hit, no runs, no walks, and six strikeouts. He also earned his first save of the season.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Rutgers will look to clinch the series win against the Winthrop on Saturday afternoon as they send out left-handed pitcher Justin Sinibaldi to the mound. He will be going against Winthrop's right-handed pitcher Reese Lumpkin.
First pitch is set for 2 pm ET, but once again there is no TV or steam for this one. However you can listen to the game via Winthrop's Athletics website here.
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