WAYNE, N.J. (April 12, 2018) – The Rutgers University-Newark baseball team hung tough but fell after William Paterson University put together a late onslaught to double up the Scarlet Raiders 8-4 in a New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) matchup.

The Scarlet Raiders move to 9-16 (1-6 NJAC) while the Pioneers improve to 16-8 (4-3 NJAC).

After serving as the home team for today's contest, R-N is right back in Wayne tomorrow afternoon as the road team at 3:30 p.m. for another showdown with WPU.

The Raiders had a strong offensive start to this afternoon's game. Trailing 1-0 after half an inning, junior Ryan Zucker led off with a walk. Senior Justin Marks followed up with a double to center that drove in Zucker all the way from first and tied the score at 1-1.

Classmate Brian Boulineau was next and he worked a base on balls. Marks had already advanced to third on a wild pitch so a failed pickoff attempt saw him cross home while Boulineau moved into scoring position.

Senior Adam Tricarico continued the early offensive production with a two-bagger into the right-center field gap that brought in Boulineau and had Newark leading 3-1 after one inning.

The Pioneers had the contest tied heading into the bottom of the fifth but the Raiders rallied to retake the lead. Marks got plunked to put the leadoff batter on and Boulineau delivered a sacrifice bunt to move Marks over to second. Tricarico was up next and he came through once again with an RBI base knock through the right side to make it 4-3.

Unfortunately, WPU would score five runs over the last three frames to win the game 8-4.

Tricarico led the Newark offense with a 2-for-4 afternoon including one extra base hit and two RBI. Marks was 1-for-3 with an RBI and two runs while Zucker reached base twice going 1-for-4 with a walk and a run scored.

Senior Mike Zibrin took the loss on the mound, moving to 1-5, as he went 6.1 innings while allowing five runs (three earned) on eight hits and two walks with three strikeouts. Junior Yanni Vayas got the last two outs of the seventh and classmate Timothy Kales finished off the final two frames of the game.