REDLANDS, CA – Sophomore shortstop Patrick Reitemeyer went three for four, scored four times and drove in three runs to help Rutgers-Newark to a 13-5 win over the University of Redlands at The Yard in the final game of the California Invitational. 

NCAA Box Score & Play-by-Play

A Reitemeyer two-run homer to right field and a two RBI double by senior catcher Gerard Russomanno keyed a six-run Scarlet Raider eighth inning, giving R-N 10 runs in its final two offensive innings to break open the affair. 

The win gave the Raiders a 3-1 record in the invitational, a 5-4 record on their spring break trip to the West Coast and an overall ledger of 9-5. Rutgers-Newark has now won three in a row over Top 20 teams.  Rutgers-Newark swept No. 15 Cal Lutheran in a doubleheader on Saturday before turning back No. 19 Redlands today.

Junior rightfielder Anthony Yeswita went four for four and scored twice for the Raiders while sophomore shortstop Matt Connors led off three innings with singles to pace the 15-hit assault. 

In the seventh, Yeswita belted his seventh home run of the season, a two-run shot to centerfield, to highlight a four-run rally and make it 7-2. Connors singled to left center field and scored on a one-out double to right center by Reitemeyer to give the Raiders some breathing room before Yeswita's blast. 
Redlands' Mike Massari took over for reliever Adam Byrd who had started the inning, but Massari issued two walks and hit two batters to bring in another Raider run before leaving the bases loaded. 

Senior starter Kevin Matawa (1-0) worked into the eighth, yielding five runs on nine hits while striking out two and walking three. Senior reliever Robert Falk came on with one out, one across and runners on the corners. He yielded an RBI single and uncorked a wild pitch to allow the final two runs of the three-run outburst before getting a foul pop to Russomanno to end the uprising. 

Closer Michael Hansen got the final three outs, getting a line-drive double play the end the game after giving up a one-out double. 

Rutgers-Newark struck first when Connors led off the bottom of the first with a single before Reitemeyer, Yeswita and junior third baseman Joe Furnaguera drew consecutive one-out walks. A ground ball to short off the bat of junior first baseman Matt Lingo plated Reitemeyer from third to make it 2-0. 

Reitemeyer, Yeswita and Furnaguera led off the third with three straight singles before a long fly ball to center off the bat of Lingo plated another run. An infield single by Russomanno reloaded the bases, but Bulldog starter Nolan Nicholson got a pop up to the catcher and a strikeout to end the threat. 

Redlands got back into the game in the top of the sixth on three singles and a double against Matawa, but the senior lefty got an infield grounder and a pop up to stem the tide, leaving the Raiders with a 3-2 lead. 

Lingo drove in three runs while Russomanno and Furnaguera collected two hits apiece. 

Rutgers-Newark returns home to host New Jersey City in the New Jersey Athletic Conference opener for each squad in Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium on Thursday at 3:30 p.m.