Winter Haven, FL | The Scarlet Raiders baseball team scored seven of their eight runs over the first four innings and limited Ripon to six hits and three runs as Rutgers-Newark earned their first win of the season.
"It feels great to get the first win of my college head coaching career. The players really showed up today played with a lot of energy, focus, and intensity. We executed in all three phases of the game, pitching, hitting, and fielding. The defense was dialed in today as they spun four double plays. They have worked so hard over the last two months and take a lot of pride in playing at a high-level and it's starting to all come to fruition." said head coach
Kevin Kelley.
Rutgers-Newark (1-3) used strong defense and turned four double plays to constantly clear the bases while racking up 13 hits in the win. Ripon (0-4) walked three batters and committed four errors in the loss.
Luke Magliaro had three hits in six at-bats and collected an RBI while
Ryan Zucker crossed the dish three times in four plate appearances in addition to a pair of RBI.
Dominic Magliaro,
John Klimowich, and
Anthony Ricardo all contributed two hits with Ricardo supplying two RBI.
Casey Hanley (1-0) pitched his way to his first win of the season, hurling five scoreless innings while allowing just one hit.
Eric Morales and
Michael Matusz combined for 1.2 innings and conceded just two hits.
Daniel Reardon came in to close out the game and worked 2.1 innings, giving up three runs on three hits while striking out one.
Zucker started the game off with a walk and would give the Scarlet Raiders their first tally of the afternoon after
Kevin Tamsula drove him home with a sacrifice fly to right field. The Red Hawks threatened to knot the game up but stranded a man on third leaving them scoreless.
Rutgers-Newark extended their lead to 4-0 in the top of the second as they added three more runs to their total. With
Chris Suleski and Ricardo in scoring position, Zucker belted one to right field, allowing Suleski and Ricardo to cross home.
Connor Clare received some help from the shortstop as Clare would reach via an error which allowed Zucker to come home.
With everything going the way of the Scarlet Raiders they added three more runs over the third and fourth inning, giving them a 7-0 lead. Ripon attempted to mount a comeback but Rutgers-Newark slammed the door shut on them after three. The Scarlet-Raiders would add one more in the top of the 9th to cap off their first win of the season.
Rutgers-Newark is back in action tomorrow afternoon in Auburndale, FL when they take on Centre College at 3:30 pm.
