PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers baseball stormed back from four different deficits and used a three-run ninth inning to walk off Princeton and win by a score of 8-7 on Wednesday evening at Bainton Field.
After a
Ryan Lasko two-run home run in the ninth tied the game,
Jordan Sweeney delivered a walk-off single to lead the Scarlet Knights (27-18, 8-7 Big Ten) to victory over the in-state Tigers (21-19, 12-6 Ivy League).
Wyatt Parliament got the start for RU and Princeton jumped out to lead with a solo home run off him in the second. After a
Cameron Love RBI single in the second, the Tigers score two more in the third to take a 3-1 lead.
Grant Besser relieved Parliament and gave Rutgers 1.1 scoreless innings, striking out one and allowed just one single.
Lasko picked up his first hit of the day in the fifth, an RBI single up the middle to score
Trevor Cohen, making the score 3-2 in favor of Princeton.
Despite RU's response, the Tigers kept up the scoring, using a two-run home run from Kyle Vinci in the sixth to take a 5-2 lead.
With the Tigers' starter exiting after six innings and allowing zero earned runs, the Scarlet Knight bats wasted no time getting to work against the PU bullpen. Love (single) and
Josh Kuroda-Grauer (HBP) each reached to lead off the seventh and went to second and third on a balk. Lasko then tripled into the right field corner to score both and make it a one-run game. Two batters later,
Evan Sleight lifted a sac fly to right, scoring Lasko and tying the game at 5-5.
Princeton would not go away quietly, with Vinci hitting his second home run of the day and 19th of the season -- a two-run shot -- to give his team a 7-5 lead in the ninth. After Rutgers went down 1-2-3 in the bottom half, it was down to the last three outs.
Kuroda-Grauer led off the ninth with a single through the left side. Lasko followed with a towering two-run home run, tying the game at 7-7 with no outs in the final frame.
Chris Brito singled into right and Sleight was hit by a pitch to put the winning run on second with no outs.
Sweeney then delivered the big blow of the game, lining a single into right-center field, scoring Brito for the winning run and giving RU the victory.
The Scarlet Knights improve to 12-0 in midweek games and finish the season 5-0 against teams from New Jersey.
Rutgers is back in action this weekend when it hosts Penn State for a three-game series at Bainton Field. Game one is set for 6 p.m. on Friday night.
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