PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Blasting six homers, Rutgers baseball (10-1) won its home opener over Wagner (1-9), 18-1, Tuesday at Bainton Field. The Scarlet Knights extended their winning streak to seven, the longest for the program since 2014, and have outscored opponents by a count of 109-34 through 11 games in 2022.
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"We've put together good at bats and have depth to the lineup," head coach
Steve Owens said. "The pitching has really evolved over the first few weeks of the season. We were excited to play at home and now look forward to a great trip to Hawaii."
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Danny DiGeorgio homered in each of the first two innings to knock in five runs, while
Evan Sleight and
Tony Santa Maria went back-to-back in the second.
Nick Cimillo also went deep in the second, with
Jordan Sweeney crushing a three-run shot in the sixth. RU last had six dingers in a game in 2017 at Lafayette.
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Sleight posted a career-high four hits in the 17-hit attack. DiGeorgio ended up scoring four runs with five RBIs and a double to go with the two long balls.
Tony Santa Maria and
Richie Schiekofer each registered two hits.
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On the mound,
Wyatt Parliament earned his first collegiate win with one run allowed in a scheduled three-inning start.
Parker Scott,
Jayson Hoopes,
Justin Sinibaldi,
Nate McLain,
Matt Rowe,
Joe Mazza and
Sam Portnoy all contributed scoreless relief work. The staff has held opponents to three runs or less in 8-of-11 games in lowering the team ERA to 3.03.
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The defense played its seventh game this season with no errors for a .987 fielding percentage overall.
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- T1 | Maimi Kobayashi hit a leadoff homer for the Seahawks.
- B1 | The Scarlet Knights answered when Schiekofer hit a one-out single and DiGeorgio followed with a two-run homer.
- B2 | Rutgers blasted four homers to push across six runs. Sleight and Santa Maria went back-to-back to start. With one out, Mike Nyisztor was hit by a pitch and Schiekofer walked before DiGeorgio smashed a three-run shot to left. Cimillo later went deep to left.
- B4 | Joshua Kuroda-Grauer picked up an RBI grounder and Sleight hit a two-out RBI single to make it 10-1.
- B5 | RU sent 11 to the plate in scoring eight runs on seven hits. Both Sweeney and Nyisztor reached via error, with Schiekofer ripping an RBI single for the first run of the rally. Nyisztor crossed on a wild pitch. After DiGeorgio recorded a double, Ryan Lasko notched a two-run double to right field to extend his hitting streak to all 11 games this year. Sleight later knocked in a run on a single, while Sweeney capped the inning by lifting a three-run homer to build the lead to 18-1.
- Rutgers has scored at least 10 runs in six games and posted at least 11 hits in eight games.
- Rutgers has hit back-to-back homers three times in 2022.
- Rutgers last won seven in a row during an eight-game winning streak between May 1-11, 2014.
- Rutgers improved to 28-4-2 all-time versus Wagner with wins in each of the last eight meetings.
- The Scarlet Knights have won their past 14Â home openers and 20Â of the last 21.Â
- The 1962 team started the season 12-1 under head coach Matt Bolger.
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The Scarlet Knights travel to Hawaii to face the Rainbow Warriors in a four-game series starting Friday at 11:35 p.m. ET. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.
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