NEWARK, N.J. (April 6, 2016) – Despite the third home run of the season from senior captain Kelsey Lucas and a four-hit day for sophomore Kelly Yusko, the Rutgers University-Newark softball team dropped both ends of a New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) doubleheader against Kean University Wednesday on Alumni Field.
 
Rutgers-Newark falls to 1-3 in the conference and 9-11 overall, while Kean improves to 11-9 overall and 4-0 in the conference. The Scarlet Raiders will look to get back in the win column Saturday when they visit William Paterson University in an NJAC twin bill beginning at 1 p.m.
 
Kean 6, Rutgers-Newark 3 – Game 1
The Scarlet Raiders wasted little time in taking the lead after Yusko worked around trouble in the top of the first, scoring two runs in the bottom half on a no-doubter of a home run off the bat of Lucas. Sophomore left fielder Elizabeth Marflak opened the inning with an opposite field double to left, coming around to score on Lucas' third homer of the year to left-center.
 
Two more scoreless innings for Yusko gave Newark a chance add to its lead in the third as a throwing error allowed Lucas to score after drawing a one-out free pass.
 
The Cougars cut into the Scarlet Raider lead with one run in the fourth, but Yusko induced a ground ball and pop up with runners on second and third withone out to keep the Scarlet Raiders up by two. Kean scored another run in the fifth to pull within one (3-2), and pulled ahead when junior Emily Sabo delivered a two-out two-run triple to left field, making the score 4-3 in favor of the guests.
 
R-N went down in order in the sixth and Kean tacked on a pair in the seventh for the final margin.
 
Yusko suffered the loss, falling to 8-7 on the year, while Kean starter Kiele Eichlin picked up the complete-game win to improve to 5-6.
 
Rutgers-Newark totaled six hits in the opener, with all six coming from the top-three spots in the order. Marflak went 2-for-4 with a run scored for her second-straight multi-hit contest, and Lucas went 1-for-3 with a walk, two runs scored and two RBI via her two-run homer. Yusko went 3-for-3 in the opener which went down as her seventh multi-hit game of the season.
 
Sabo went 4-for-4 with two RBI to lead a 16-hit Kean attack as four Cougars pocketed multiple hits.
 
Kean 8, Rutgers-Newark 0 (5 inn.)
It was the Cougars taking a 2-0 lead after one in the second game, and the lead moved to 6-0 following a two-out grand slam to right-center from junior Dana Knapp an inning later.
 
Rutgers-Newark put two on in the third – one by error and one via an infield single from sophomore pitcher Morgan Walizer – but the Cougars got out of it.
 
A two-run Knapp single in the fourth pushed the margin to eight (8-0) for the guests, and the Scarlet Raiders were unable to score in their half of the fourth or fifth.
 
Yusko and Walizer had the Scarlet Raider hits in the nightcap, with left fielder Olivia Zengel going 3-for-4 with two runs scored out of the leadoff spot to pace Kean.