PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers baseball delivered an 8-4 victory over in-state foe Princeton on Wednesday night at Bainton Field. 

The Scarlet Knights (25-19) came back from an early 4-0 deficit and used eight shutout innings from the bullpen to defeat the Tigers (16-22) in their final scheduled midweek game of the year.

Princeton put up a four-spot in the top of the first, forcing RU to play from behind. After a one-run single, a three-run home run with two outs was the big blow of the inning that game the Tigers the early 4-0 lead. 

Rutgers began to chip away, plating a pair in the first on an RBI single from Pete Durocher and an RBI groundout from Trevor Cohen. The Scarlet Knights added another on an RBI single from Ty Doucette in the second and tied it on an RBI groundout from Doucette in the fourth. 

Sam Portnoy came in for the second inning and settled the game with three scoreless frames, allowing just two hits with a strikeout and no walks. 

The Scarlet Knights would take a 5-4 lead in the sixth on a sac fly from Tony Santa Maria. JD Jones laid down a perfect bunt on a squeeze play to make it 6-4 in the seventh. Johnny Volpe then delivered the knockout punch for Rutgers, a two-run home run to extend the lead to 8-4. 

Ethan Bowen would earn the win after pitching scoreless sixth and seventh innings. He finished with a line of two innings, no runs on no hits, striking out two with no walks, improving to 2-0 on the season. 

Joe Mazza pitched a 1-2-3 fifth with a strikeout, while Ben Gorski pitched a 1-2-3 eighth with a strikeout of his own. 

Sonny Fauci finished off the victory, striking out three in a scoreless top of the ninth.

Rutgers returns to Big Ten play this weekend with a three-game series against Maryland, with game one set for 6 p.m. on Friday night at Bainton Field. 

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