MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (March 11, 2017) – The Rutgers University-Newark baseball team opened its 2017 Spring Break trip to South Carolina Saturday and suffered a 5-1 defeat at the hands of Catholic University.
 
The Scarlet Raiders drop to 3-3 but will have a chance to bounce back quickly when they take on Albertus Magnus College Sunday night at 6 p.m. Landmark Conference power Catholic improves to 10-2 with the win.
 
Sophomore hurler Jon Mierzwa was the story of the game, striking out 15 over seven innings to earn the win for the Cardinals. He scattered three hits and allowed just one earned run.
 
Sophomore Anthony Rosoline pitched very well in his third start of the year for Rutgers-Newark, scattering seven hits over six innings and giving up just one run. Veteran Chas Bohannon tossed two innings in relief, giving up four unearned runs on three hits.
 
Junior first baseman Ross Halkias staked Rutgers-Newark to a 1-0 lead with a homer to left-center with two outs in the first inning. It was his team-leading second round tripper of the season and he is now slugging .583 through six games.
 
Two runners reached in the second for the Raiders – senior Josh Cote found his way on with an error and freshman Connor Clare singled – but Mierzwa sent down 13 of the next 15 R-N hitters.
 
Catholic scored one in the second to tie the game (1-1), and pulled ahead with four unearned runs in the seventh. Junior Danny O'Hagan drove in two with a clutch double.
 
Mierzwa picked up the win to move to 3-0 on the year, while Bohannon took the hard-luck loss (0-1).
 
Junior Anthony Perconte, Marks (2B), Clare and sophomore Ryan Zucker all had hits in addition to the Halkias homer as the Raiders totaled five in the contest. Catholic had 10 hits in all and O'Hagan led the Cardinals going 3-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored.