NEWARK, NJ – Rutgers-Newark swept past Mount St. Vincent, 14-3 and 8-0, on a foggy night on Alumni Field in its home openers.

BOX SCORES & PLAY-BY-PLAY
Rutgers-Newark 14, Mount St. Vincent 3
Rutgers-Newark 8, Mount St. Vincent 0

After the Scarlet Raiders (6-5) exploded for 11 runs in the second inning of the opener, sophomore Liane Drastal (3-4) hurled a 6-inning 3-hit shutout in the nightcap.  The right-hander struck out seven while walking no one as she faced just one batter over the minimum in the gem.

IN GAME ONE, the Raiders send 16 batters to the plate to score 11 run on seven hits with four Dolphin errors, three walks and a hit batter contributing to the rally.  Junior leftfielder Nicole Odell, sophomore rightfielder Tina Zaggia and sophomore shortstop Tiara Santi each scored twice in the inning.  Santi and Zaggia each singled twice. Santi and Odell each had a 2-run single in the inning.

The eruption made an easy winner of sophomore Brianna Alicchio (3-1) who scattered seven hits while striking out one and walking one in five full innings of work.

For the game, Liotto went three for three with an RBI single in the second and an RBI double to left centerfield in the fourth.  Freshman Victoria Sovak ripped a pinch-hit triple down the rightfield line in the fourth to start a 2-run rally.

Senior centerfielder Marni O'Shea paced the Dolphins (4-7) by going three for three with a solo home run to left in the first followed by a single and a run scored in MSV's 2-run third inning.

IN GAME TWO, shortstop Sovak went two for four with three RBIs while freshman second baseman Kelsey Lucas and junior first baseman Monica Bagan each went two for three.

Sovak's slicing double down the rightfield line brought home pinch runner Zaggia from second base with one out in the sixth with the mercy-rule run.  Sovak capped a 3-run second inning with a 2-run single to center field.

Lucas finished off a 3-run rally in the fourth with a 2-out, 2-run single to left field.

O'Shea had two of the Dolphins' three hits with a double to left center field in the first and a single through the middle of the infield in the fourth.  Both times she was erased by the Raider defense. In the first, sophomore centerfielder Tori Santiago and Sovak relayed the ball from the fence to gun down O'Shea easily when she tried to stretch her hit into a triple.  In the fourth, Sovak picked up a short-hop grounder, tagged second and threw to first for a double play.

Catcher Courtney Keane doubled in a second inning for MSV's only other hit.

Drastal retired the last eight batters following O'Shea's second hit, striking out the final four hitters swinging to finish the game.

Rutgers-Newark hosts Swarthmore College at 1 p.m. on Saturday on Alumni Field in a non-conference doubleheader.