WAYNE, NJ – Rutgers-Newark seniors Brian Gill and Gerard Russomanno collected three hits apiece, but league-leading William Paterson posted a 9-7 New Jersey Athletic Conference win. 

NCAA Box Score & Play-by-Play

The Pioneers (17-12, NJAC 9-3) handed sophomore righthander Ryan Williams (5-1) his first loss of the season as the Scarlet Raiders (16-10, NJAC 5-5) suffered their second straight conference loss. WPU earned a split of the regular-season series with the win. 

Williams went five full innings, giving up four earned runs on five hits while striking out one and walking five, leaving with the Raiders in a 6-1 hole. Junior reliever John Kuder gave up three runs on four hits while striking out two and walking one in 1-2/3 innings before senior Robert Falk got through the final 1-1/3 innings by allowing only a walk against one strikeout. 

A late surge by the Raiders fell just short. Gill and sophomore shortstop Patrick Reitemeyer had back-to-back RBI singles to key the four-run eighth inning which trimmed the WPU lead to 9-6. 

Sophomore second baseman Matt Connors singled through the middle with two out to plate Russomanno – who had lead off the top of the ninth with a single – to trim the lead to two. Gill then singled to rightfield, but Pioneer reliever J.J. Moran got a grounder back to the mound to strand the runners and end the contest. 

Junior rightfielder Anthony Yeswita, who went two for three and walked with the bases loaded in the eighth, gave Rutgers-Newark the early lead with a two-out, RBI single in the first. 

But the Pioneers posted three runs each in the third and fifth innings – with the aid of a Raider error in each frame – to take command of the contest. 

The Raiders travel to St. Joseph's NY for a 4 p.m. Friday contest before starting a crucial weekend in NJAC play. Rutgers-Newark hosts Rowan in Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium at noon on Saturday before travelling to Pomona on Sunday for a noon twinbill against Richard Stockton.