WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – Rutgers baseball (7-1) blanked William & Mary (3-3), 1-0, Friday at Plumeri Park for its seventh road win of the season. The Scarlet Knights have already pitched three shutouts through eight games.
 
"The pitching was outstanding today," head coach Steve Owens said. "Fitz gave us a much better start, it's great to see him bounce back and give us length. Sam came in with a runner in scoring position and did a great job. He didn't walk anyone and his stuffed played up. Then we were able to give the ball to Dale. He's very good at the end of games.
 
"We talked about this last week, sometimes you get a lot of hits and score a bunch of runs, other times you have to win in a low-scoring game. William & Mary also pitched well. We had some chances early, but made baserunning mistakes. Overall, it was a well-played Friday game and a win on the road."
 
Brian Fitzpatrick pitched a career-high five innings with four hits and no runs allowed. It was his second scoreless outing in three starts. The left-hander faced a two-on, one-out jam in the second, but picked up back-to-back strikeouts to escape.
 
In relief, Sam Bello entered with a runner at second and no outs in the sixth. He preceded to record two pop flies and a strikeout to strand the inherited runner, logging four strikeouts in three innings overall. Dale Stanavich followed up with a perfect ninth for his third save, including two strikeouts and an athletic play on the mound. For the season, the closer has registered 18 outs in retiring all 17 batters faced.
 
The Scarlet Knights' three shutouts (Houston Baptist, UNCW) match the total from 44 games last season. This is the first time in game logs dating back to 1946 RU has had three blankings in the first eight games of a season. In addition, this marked the first 1-0 win since March 24, 2018, versus Penn State.
 
Ryan Lasko highlighted the lineup with two singles and a walk. He sparked the only scoring rally of the day with a leadoff single in the second inning, moved to third on a single by Nick Cimillo and scored on an RBI single through the right side by Evan Sleight.
 
The Tribe were held to five hits in the game and 0-for-12 with runners on base.


 

UP NEXT

The Scarlet Knights take on Richmond Saturday at 1 p.m. on ESPN+.
 
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