OMAHA, Neb. (May 27, 2022) – The Rutgers baseball team is headed to semifinal Saturday at the Big Ten Tournament. After rallying in the top of the 10th to beat Penn State 5-4, the Scarlet Knights now await to see who their opponent will be on Saturday at 10 p.m. EST. 

Rutgers took a 4-0 lead going into the bottom of the ninth on the heels of a career outing by Nate Florence, but Penn State rallied when Florence came out with a runner on first and scored 4 runs to stun the Scarlet Knights and send the game to extra innings. Rutgers regrouped and answered with a run in the 10th before Sam Bello shut down PSU's 1-2-3 hitters in the bottom of the 10th to close out the victory. 

"We got the team together and said 'someone's going to win this,'" head coach Steve Owens said. "We have got to keep playing to the end. Our guys have been very good with that all year. That's what a good team does. They move on past the bad stuff that happened and they control what they can control. And our guys did a super job with that."

Needing a big outing from starter Nate Florence, the Scarlet Knights got just that, as he delivered his best outing in a Rutgers uniform. For the first time at Rutgers, Florence pitched into the seventh inning. But he also pitched into the eighth. And the ninth. 

After giving up a leadoff single in the first, Florence would retire the next 14 Nittany Lions in order. to cruise through 4.2 scoreless innings. PSU got a single and walk with two outs in the fifth, but Florence caught a foul pop up by himself to end the frame. 

He stuck it out in the sixth, working around a one-out infield single with an inning-ending double play. He set down the Nittany Lions in order on six pitches in the seventh and then again in order in the eighth. 

He finished the day with 8+ IP, 3 hits, 1 run, two walks and 10 strikeouts, which tied a Rutgers-best for him.

"He was awesome today. He threw a lot of strikes. He had a good changeup early, had a good breaking ball in the middle and thew a lot of fastballs," Owens said. "He stayed out there to the ninth inning and we haven't gone past five or six the whole year. I let him go because he kept doing his job and did it really well. We needed that length today and he was awesome."

And while Florence was dominant, so was Penn State starter Jordan Morales. He threw 4.2 scoreless innings, striking out five Scarlet Knights. 

RU was able to break through against PSU reliever Jaden Henline, who is normally a starter. In the top of the sixth, he hit Ryan Lasko with a pitch to lead off the frame. Lasko would go to second on a wild pitch and advance to third on a sacrifice bunt from Danny DiGeorgio. With the infield in, Nick Cimillo ripped a ground ball through the middle and hustled to second for an RBI double. 

In the next frame, Josh Kuroda-Grauer doubled down the third base line, setting up Richie Schiekofer, who ripped an RBI single to right field to make it 2-0. 

With the bases loaded in the eighth, Chris Brito singled home 2 more runs to make it 4-0. 

But Penn State would not go down easy, as they rode the momentum of a leadoff walk in the bottom of the ninth. The Nittany Lions loaded the bases with one out on a double and another walk. Rutgers traded a run for an out on an RBI groundout to second base to make it 4-1 with two outs and runners on second and third. Billy Gerlott grounded a well-placed hit to left to score a run before Johnny Piacentino blasted a game-tying extra-base hit into the left-center gap. 

Sam Bello entered with the game-winning run on third and struck out a pinch hitter to send the game to extra innings. 

Chris Brito was hit by the first pitch in the 10th and went to third on a single through the right side by Josh Kuroda-Grauer. Richie Schiekofer then hit a fly ball through the wind that was deep enough to score Brito from third and give Rutgers a 5-4 lead. 

Bello came out of the bottom of the 10th to face the top of Penn State's lineup and dealt a 1-2-3 frame, punctuated by a looking strikeout to end the game. 
   
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