POMONA, NJ – Sophomore third baseman Joe Furnaguera drove in four runs with a double and a home run and junior leftfielder Brian Gill went four for five as Rutgers-Newark bounced back from a 3-0 loss in the opener for a 15-4 win over Richard Stockton in the nightcap of a New Jersey Athletic Conference doubleheader.
NCAA Statistics: Stockton 3, Rutgers-Newark 0 Rutgers-Newark 15, Stockton 4
Playing as the home team on the Richard Stockton campus because of a rescheduling dilemmas, the Scarlet Raiders (13-14-1, NJAC 5-6) got nine hits but stranded nine runners against the Ospreys (18-9, NJAC 6-5) in game one.
Freshman Billy Cerruti (1-3) turned in a complete-game nine-hitter while striking out two and walking three. He yielded just one earned run as Stockton pushed across three runs on four hits in the fifth inning.
Osprey starter Scott Fisher (5-1) also went the distance, scattering nine hits while striking out 10 against no walks.
Senior first baseman Dan Zika, junior designated hitter Christian Diaz and junior catcher Gerard Russomanno collected two hits apiece against Fisher who gave up just one extra-base hit – a lead-off double by sophomore rightfielder Anthony Yeswita in the fourth. Zika followed that hit with a single to give Rutgers-Newark runners on the corners with no one out, but Fisher coaxed a pair of infield grounders before getting a strike out to escape the jam.
The Raiders also left two on in the first and seventh inning before loading the bases with two down in the ninth. Fischer got a ground ball to second to end the game.
In game two, Rutgers-Newark hammered out 18 hits for the fourth time this season and took advantage of five Ospreys errors to score eight unearned runs.
Junior Kevin Matawa (4-2) got the win, going seven full innings while giving up nine hits and four runs while striking out one and walking one. He got shutout relief from junior Robert Falk and Michael Hanson over the final three frames.
The Raiders got all the runs they would need during a six-run, seven-hit outburst in the second inning. Gill, who singled and scored in the first inning, added an RBI single and scored in the second. Yeswita had a two-run single and Furnaguera an RBI double in the frame as Rutgers-Newark took a 7-0 lead.
Furnaguera delivered a three-run homer in the fourth to negate a three-run, four-hit Osprey rally in the top of the frame.
RBI singles by freshmen Patrick Reitemeyer and Matt Connors highlighted a five-run, four-hit seventh inning which was stoked by three Stockton errors. The Raiders batted around for the second time in the game in the inning.
Rookie shortstop Reitemeyer finished three for five in the game while second baseman Connors went two for five. Yeswita also collected two hits as did junior catcher Matt Halligan.
Rutgers-Newark visits Alvernia on Monday for a 3:30 p.m. non-conference contest before returning to Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium on Tuesday to host John Jay in a 3:30 game.
