ORANGE, Calif. (March 13, 2016) - Sophomore first baseman Ross Halkias hit a two-out grand slam in the top of the eighth inning to lift the Rutgers University-Newark baseball team to a 10-7 come-from-behind win over Chapman University Sunday afternoon in Orange, Calif.

With the win, the Scarlet Raiders improve to .500 on the young season at 4-4, while Chapman drops to 7-9.

The homer was the first of Halkias' brief Rutgers-Newark career after transferring in this past fall, and helped the Raiders erase a late 5-4 deficit.

After Chapman jumped out to an early 1-0 lead, the Scarlet Raiders went in front with a three-spot in the top half of the third inning to take a 3-1 lead. Two walks and a hit batsmen loaded the bases with one out for Newark, and a passed ball allowed senior right fielder Billy Taylor to score. Senior Ryan MacFarlane walked to fill the bases back up and a run-scoring sacrifice fly from senior Cameron Dias made it 2-1 in favor of R-N. A double steal - MacFarlane swiping second and senior shortstop Gerry Patrizio taking home - closed the scoring in the inning and made it 3-1 Scarlet Raiders.

Chapman tallied one in the fourth to make it 3-2, and the Raiders went up by two runs with a single marker in the top half of the sixth. An error in center field allowed Dias to reach base with one out, and a double from sophomore catcher Justin Marks - the first Rutgers hit of the game - put runners on second and third with one man out. Junior left fielder Josh Cote was next, coming through with an RBI groundout to make it a 4-2, but Chapman pulled even in the bottom half and went on top 5-4 with one in the seventh.

That set the stage for the big-time grand slam from Halkias, who drove in MacFarlane, Dias and Cote - who all had walked ahead of him. The freshman came up and came through - sending a shot over the wall in left-center field for his first career home run which gave his team an 8-5 lead. Amazingly, it was only the second R-N hit of the afternoon, but it could not have come at a more important juncture.

Sophomore Dominick Fazio started and went 5.2 for the Scarlet Raiders, allowing four runs (two earned) and striking out three. Dias came on in relief, giving up three runs (two earned) in 2.2 innings to earn the victory.

Rutgers-Newark pushed across two insurance runs in the top half of the ninth inning to open a 10-5 lead for Dias. Freshman second baseman Ryan Zucker opened the inning with a single, and Taylor moved him to second with a sacrifice bunt. Patrizio recorded an infield single, moving Zucker to third and taking second himself on a throwing error, and a MacFarlane fielder's choice plated Zucker and put runners on first and third with one out. Dias grounded out to allow Patrizio to cross, giving Rutgers-Newark 10 runs and a five-run cushion.

Chapman loaded the bases with one out in the ninth inning and scored twice to make things interesting, but MacFarlane came on to save the Dias win. It was the first win of the year for Dias and first save of the season for MacFarlane.

Halkias' homer was the highlight for the Rutgers-Newark offense, with Patrizio, Marks and Cote getting the other Newark hits. Patrizio had two runs scored, MacFarlane walked three times, scored and had an RBI, and Dias scored twice and drove in two runs. Rutgers-Newark worked eight walks and made the most out of three host errors.

R-N returns to action at the University of Redlands with a single game Monday at 3 p.m. (PST). The Scarlet Raiders will be looking to get above the .500 mark for the first time this season.

Note of the Night:
The Ross Halkias grand slam was the second this season for Rutgers-Newark, and the Scarlet Raiders' second in the last five games. Justin Marks was responsible for the first bases loaded homer which came in a win over PSU-Abington on the first day of March.