Rutgers Baseball Plates 10 Runs in Sixth vs. Baptist
RUTGERS 18 – HOUSTON BAPTIST 3
A 10-run sixth inning highlighted another dominating performance by the Scarlet Knights who improved to 2-0 with a thunderous 18-3 win over Houston Baptist.
"We just caught fire as a team."
— Rutgers Baseball (@RutgersBaseball) February 20, 2022
Schiekofer reached base six times with a career-high five hits in Saturday's 18-3 win.#RBaseball #TCD pic.twitter.com/rnXlcPLlUX
The 10 run rally was the program’s first such rally since 2018. Rutgers also compiled 21 hits in the win; the last time Rutgers had over 20 hits in a game dates back to 2017 according to scarletknights.com.
Richie Schiekofer and Chris Brito had huge days for the Scarlet Knights. Schiekofer went 5-fo-6 with three RBI and two runs scored. Brito was 3-for-6 with three runs score and four RBI.
Rutgers trailed 2-0 before rallying for three runs in the top half of the third inning on a RBI base hit by Brito and bases loaded walks to Nick Cimillo and Garrett Callaghan to make it a 3-2 ballgame.
Fast forward to the sixth, with Rutgers leading by a score of 4-3, the ten-run explosion started in earnest when Ryan Lasko lined a one-out triple and scored on a double by Brito to make it 5-3. After a pair of walks, Tony Santa Maria (2-for-5, 2 Runs scored, 3 RBI) singled to left, driving in a pair to make it 7-3.
Jordan Sweeney followed with a two-run double down the line, scoring Cimillo and Santa Maria to make it a 9-3 ballgame.
Two batters later Schiekofer line a single to center, scoring Sweeney to make it 10-3.
Brito and Evan Sleight would follow with back-to-back two run base hits to cap off an incredible offensive outburst.
On the mound, Jared Koller got the start for Rutgers allowing three runs over four innings of work. Ben Gorski got the victory with three shutout innings under his belt.
Rutgers looks for a series sweep on Sunday.
