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PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Highlighted by a safety squeeze laid down by junior Chris Folinusz and a solo home run by senior Mike Carter, Rutgers baseball scored five runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to rally past Illinois, 8-3, in the opener of a Friday doubleheader at Bainton Field. The contest started a stretch of eight Big Ten games in nine days for the Scarlet Knights.



With the score knotted at three in the eighth, senior Tom Marcinczyk started the outburst by drawing his league-leading 35th walk of the season. Senior Christian Campbell then laid down a sacrifice bunt, with Marcinczyk advancing to third on a wild pitch. Illinois elected to intentionally walk sophomore Nick Matera to put runners at the corners for Folinusz, who laid down a successful safety squeeze to allow Marcinczyk to slide in as the go-ahead run. Sophomore Carmen Sclafani continued the rally by working a walk and freshman Kevin Welsh lifted a sacrifice fly, as an error allowed another run to cross. Following a wild pitch to score Sclafani, Carter capped the inning with a solo homer to right field.

Rutgers (18-28, 6-10) picked up eight hits and drew seven walks offensively in the game. Marcinczyk drew two walks with a triple, while Sclafani hit a double, a single and walked to reach three times. The Scarlet Knights have averaged eight runs per game over the last 18.

On the mound, sophomore Serafino Brito allowed just two earned runs over seven innings, scattering five hits. The right-hander struck out four and walked one. Senior Ryan Fleming (3-0) earned the win by tossing a scoreless inning, as fifth-year senior Max Herrmann closed out the game by retiring the side in the ninth.

Illinois (21-25, 7-12) took the lead in the top of the fourth on a solo homer by Pat McInerney. However, RU responded in the bottom of the frame when Marcinczyk laced a two-run triple. It was his 15th career three-bagger.

In the fifth, the Fighting Illini went ahead with two runs (one earned), but the Scarlet Knights matched the score in the sixth. Marcinczyk started with a one-out walk, moving up on a ground-rule double from Campbell. Next up, Matera lined an RBI single up the middle.

Brito kept UI off the board in the seventh to finish his outing and Fleming dealt a scoreless eighth. That led to Rutgers' eighth-inning rally.

Ryan Schmitt (4-2) took the loss with five runs allowed in relief for the visitors. Ty Weber made the start and lasted 6.1 innings.

Game two of the doubleheader followed.

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