April 15, 2016 Box Score
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Senior Howie Brey (Middletown, N.J.) pitched his second-straight Big Ten complete game to lift Rutgers baseball to a 7-4 road win over Ohio State Friday at Bill Davis Stadium. The Scarlet Knights pushed across seven runs in the first three innings to provide offensive support.
The triumph bettered RU to a 16-17 record on the season, having won seven of the last nine, while improving to 3-4 in the Big Ten. The Buckeyes suffered their second home setback of the year to fall to 21-12-1 and 2-5.
In working his sixth career complete game, Brey allowed three runs and four hits in the first inning, but settled in to permit just one run and four hits from there. The left-hander struck out six in the career-high 130 pitch outing, including punching out the side in the bottom of the ninth. He had pitched all nine in his last conference start versus Indiana and now has 16 collegiate wins.
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Offensively, Rutgers pounded out nine hits in the first three innings and 13 overall. Freshman Jawuan Harris (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) led all players in the game with three hits, while also driving home two, as senior R.J. Devish (Beachwood, N.J.) walked twice and singled to bring his on-base percentage to .542. Fifth-year senior Chris Suseck (Flemington, N.J.), sophomore Milo Freeman (Millburn, N.J.) and fifth-year senior John Jennings (Berkeley Heights, N.J.) also added two hits apiece. Suseck collected two RBIs to take over the team lead at 27 for the season.
The Scarlet Knights started the scoring with three runs on three hits in the top of the first. Devish led off with a five-pitch walk and moved up to second on a single by junior Mike Carter (Bloomfield, N.J.). After an infield pop and strikeout, Jennings kept the inning going with an infield single. That brought up Harris, who drilled a two-run single to center, as the ball was misplayed in the outfield to allow a third run to come across.
The Buckeyes responded with three of their own in the bottom of the fourth, but RU came back with three more in the second. Freeman roped a double to the left field corner to lead off, advancing on a hit by junior Gaby Rosa (Perth Amboy, N.J.). Devish then knocked in Freeman with a single through the left side. Carter next put two in scoring position on a sacrifice bunt, with Suseck delivering a two-run double to make it 6-3.
RU increased its lead to four with another run in the third. Junior Christian Campbell (Sayreville, N.J.) reached on a leadoff double and immediately ran to third base on a wild pitch. In the next moment, Freeman cranked an RBI single.
The game would stay 7-3 in favor of the visitors until the fifth when Troy Montgomery launched his seventh home run of the season. Brey would prevent further damage by stranding two on later that inning, starting a string of nine consecutive retired until two outs in the eighth. The lefty would quickly work past that triple.
In the ninth, Brey struck out three of the four batters sent to the plate on off-speed pitches, sealing the third Big Ten win in the last four tries for the Scarlet Knights.
Tanner Tully (4-3) suffered the loss for Ohio State with 10 hits and six earned runs surrednered over six innings. The Buckeyes hit into two double plays and left six runners on base.
Rutgers will look for the series win Saturday in game two of the series, also attempting for the fifth time to reach a .500 record. Redshirt junior Kyle Driscoll (Toms River, N.J.) will make the start on the mound for the Scarlet Knights.
NOTES
Rutgers won its third consecutive weekend series opener for the first time since taking four in a row in 2014 (Connecticut, Houston, Hartford, Cincinnati) … the Scarlet Knights have won their last four games in the state of Ohio … it marked RU's first visit to Ohio State … Brey is now fifth in school history with 176 career strikeouts and seventh with 254.1 innings pitched … he has not permitted a stolen base in 150.1 innings dating back to 2014, the longest streak of its kind in the nation (no runner has even attempted this season) … the offense reached double-digit hits for the 12th time … the team is now 12-0 when out-hitting an opponent … Devish has reached base in 16-straight games and in 31-of-32 he has played this season … RU hits 8-for-19 with runners on and 6-for-15 with runners in scoring position … Rutgers won a night game for the second time this year ... the game lasted two hours, 15 minutes.
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