PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers baseball opened the 2025 home slate with a 12-6 victory over St. Joe's on Tuesday afternoon.
 
Nick Tomasetto hit a pair of home runs and drove in seven to lead the Scarlet Knights (4-4) to a home-opening win over the Hawks (2-6)
 
Jack Kirchner earned the start on the mound and made his first career appearance after missing his freshman year recovering from injury. Kirchner tossed 1.2 scoreless innings, did not allow a hit and picked up a strikeout in the first.
 
After a walk and single put a pair on for RU in the bottom of the first, Nick Tomasetto launched his first career home run to give the Scarlet Knights a 3-0 lead.
 
Andrew Rondini was the second pitcher to make his career debut, relieving Kirchner and getting the last out of the second. Rondini finished the day with two innings pitched, giving up one run on a pair of hits and a walk.
 
In the bottom of the third, Brennan Hyde drove in a run on a sac fly and RJ Johnson Jr. followed up with a two-run single to make it 6-0.
 
After the Hawks got one back in the fourth, Ty Doucette singled in a run and Tomasetto followed with his second three-run homer of the day to push the lead to 10-1.
 
A two-run homer for SJU made it 10-3 in the sixth. Tomasetto drove in his seventh run of the day with an RBI double in the sixth and JT Thompson singled in another to push it to 12-3.
 
While the Hawks plated three in the eighth, Dillon Ryan came in to get the final out and then closed out the 12-6 victory.
 
Johnson Jr. (2-for-4, 2 RBIs) and Pablo Santos (2-for-4) joined Tomasetto as Scarlet Knights with multiple hits, with 8-of-9 RU starters collecting at least one hit on the day.
 
Hunter Hoxie threw 2.1 innings of relief in his second career outing, striking out a career-high five batters and now has seven punchouts in just three innings pitched this season.

Rutgers is back in action this weekend with a three-game series at Coastal Carolina. Game one is set for 4 p.m. on Friday.
 
Notes

• Career Debuts: RHP Jack Kirchner, RHP Andrew Rondini, RHP Nolan Peel
• First Career Strikeout: RHP Jack Kirchner, RHP Nolan Peel
• First Career Home Run: INF Nick Tomasetto
• First Career Multi-Home Run Game: INF Nick Tomasetto
• Tomasetto is the fifth Scarlet Knight since 2000 to have seven RBIs in a game: Matt Wolski vs. St. John's (2000), Jon Gossard at Georgetown (2008), Michael Lang at Notre Dame (2010), Carmen Sclafani vs. Wagner (2019)

• Nick Tomasetto: Hits (3), Runs (3), RBIs (7)
• Ty Doucette: Runs (3)
• Peyton Bonds: Runs (3 – tie)
• Hunter Hoxie: Strikeouts (5), Innings Pitched (2.1)
• Nolan Peel: Strikeouts (2), Innings Pitched (1.2)

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