JERSEY CITY, NJ – Senior first baseman Dan Zika slapped a two-run, two-out single through the left side of the infield in the top of the sixth inning to put Rutgers-Newark ahead for good in an 18-7 win over New Jersey City in the New Jersey Athletic Conference opener for each team on at a soggy Thomas M. Gerrity Athletic Complex.
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The win evened the Scarlet Raiders' record at 8-8 and marked their seventh win in their last nine games while the Gothic Knights fell to 7-11 overall.
Zika, who went three for four and scored three times, delivered the decisive hit to give Rutgers-Newark an 8-7 lead. His hit brought home junior rightfielder Brian Gill and freshman second baseman Matt Connors, who had stolen third and second, respectively, on consecutive pitches to set the table. But, The Raiders were just warming up.
A bases-loaded double by junior leftfielder Doug Ford highlighted a nine-run outburst in the top of the ninth which blew open a tight contest. With the bases loaded in the top of the ninth, Gill and sophomore designated hitter Anthony Yeswita drew a bases-loaded walks around a cather's interference call with junior catcher Matt Halligan at the plate before Zika was hit by a pitch to run the Raider advantage to 13-7. Ford, who also had an RBI triple, doubled down the rightfield line with the bases loaded. Sophomore third baseman Joe Furnaguera walked to reload the bases before freshman shortstop Patrick Reitemeyer and Connors capped the run with RBI singles in the Raiders' biggest inning of the year.
Junior reliever Robert Falk, who came on to relieve starter Dan Nodarse with two out and one on in the fifth, retired the first seven batters he faced to get his first win of the year. Falk, who struck out two, was replaced by junior Robert Adams after walking the lead-off batter in the bottom of the eighth. Adams gave up a two-out single to bring the go-ahead run to the plate in the bottom of the eighth, but he coaxed a ground ball out to second by catcher Kristopher Brus. Nodarse gave up six hits while striking out one and walking three. Sophomore Michael Hansen mopped up in the ninth, giving up a one-out walk before getting a pair of fly balls to the outfield to end the 3-hour and 47-minute contest.
Furnaguera and Reitemeyer had back-to-back RBI singles to cap a three-run outburst by Rutgers-Newark in the third inning to boost the Raiders into a 5-4 lead.
Rutgers-Newark took an early 2-0 lead when Ford tripled to leftfield to plate Zika, who had led off the inning with a single, before coming home on a two-out outfield error off the bat of junior centerfielder Mike DiMattia. But, the Gothic Knights pushed four runs across in the bottom of the inning to take the lead.
Rutgers-Newark hosts defending NCAA Division III National Champion Kean at Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium tomorrow at 3 p.m. as NJAC play continues. On Saturday, #6 nationally-ranked TCNJ comes to the stadium for an 11:30 a.m. doubleheader.
