NEWARK, NJ – A line drive lost in the sun and an infield single by freshman centerfielder Matt Citro in the bottom of the eighth lifted Rutgers-Newark from despair to a 12-11 New Jersey Athletic Conference win over New Jersey City in Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium.
NCAA Statistics
The Scarlet Raiders (18-16-1, NJAC 7-8) blew a 9-5 lead in to top of the eighth when senior centerfielder Rob Sumner hammered a three-run home ahead of a two-run shot by senior shortstop Jose Fulgencio to spark a six-run uprising. Sophomore reserve designated hitter Josue Martinez capped the rally with an RBI single against sophomore reliever Michael Hansen.
In the bottom of the eighth, senior leftfielder Doug Ford tripled to rightfield with one out before sophomore third baseman Joe Furnaguera drew a walk to put runners on the corners. With two out, rookie shortstop Patrick Reitemeyer hit a line drive to centerfield which Sumner lost in the setting sun. The ball got all the way to the centerfield wall, the score was tied at 11-11 and Rietemeyer was standing at third when the dust cleared.
Citro hit a slow roller up the middle, just to the left side of second base. Fulgencio hustled to the grounder, picked it up cleanly and fired to first where Citro was safe on a bang-bang play. Reitemeyer crossed the plate with what proved to be the winning run.
After getting roughed up for three runs on two hits in the eighth, Hansen (3-1) became the winner when he retired the Gothic Knights in order in the top of the ninth.
Senior first baseman Dan Zika blasted his second home run of the year, a three-run shot which gave the Raiders a 3-2 lead in the first, to highlight a two for three day at the plate. He also scored three times for Rutgers-Newark.
Reitemeyer went three for five, adding an RBI single to cap a three-run third inning for the Raiders. Furnaguera had a two-run single in the third and finished the day going two for four with three RBI. Citro had a pinch-hit RBI double and scored on a single by junior rightfielder Brian Gill in the seventh to stake the Raiders to the 9-4 advantage.
Fulgencio went four for five and drove in five runs, adding an RBI single in the first and a two-run single in the three-run fourth for NJCU (10-25, NJAC 2-13). Sumner finished two for four with three runs scored while freshman third baseman Tom Burke singled twice, scoring each time.
The win keeps the Raiders in the battle for one of six NJAC Championship Tournament berths with just three games remaining. Rutgers-Newark is a half a game ahead of Richard Stockton (20-13, NJAC 7-9), a 6-4 loser at Rowan today, in sixth place entering the weekend.
Rutgers-Newark travels to defending national champion Kean tomorrow afternoon for a 3:30 game before closing out its regular season with an NJAC doubleheader against Ramapo in the stadium at noon on Saturday. Seniors Doug Ford, Dan Zika and Thanos Iglesius will be honored in pre-game ceremonies on Saturday.
