PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers baseball finished off a three-game sweep of Illinois with a 12-5 victory on Saturday afternoon at Bainton Field.
 
The Scarlet Knights (24-24, 12-12) continued to score at will, plating multiple runs in four-of-eight innings against the Fighting Illini (26-19, 12-12) and completing their first Big Ten sweep since taking all three against Penn State in 2023. 
 
It was a total team effort from RU, who combined to use six pitchers and have all nine starters score a run. 

Despite falling in an early 2-0 hole in the top of the first, the Scarlet Knights continued to be relentless on offense and tied it in the bottom half with a two-run double from Pablo Santos. 

Rutgers took control of the game in the bottom of the second with a four-spot. Brennan Hyde, Trevor Cohen and Peyton Bonds all had run scoring singles and Bonds and Cohen combined on a double-steal to score the fourth run of the frame and make it 6-2. 

True freshman Andrew Rondini pitched a clean second inning and got a pair of outs in the third, earning the win to improve to 3-0 on the season. Jack Kirchner pitched another 1.2 innings, giving up two runs and striking out two. 

The teams traded runs in the middle innings, with Illinois scoring on a bases-loaded walk and Rutgers adding a run on a solo home run from Brennan Hyde, making the score 7-3 after four. 

The Fighting Illini kept chipping away but could not put together a big inning to mount a comeback. Two runs crossed for them in the fifth to make it 7-5, but that is as close as they would get. 

Ty Doucette hit a two-run double in the sixth to extend the lead to 9-5 and Matt Chatelle hit a three-run homer in the seventh to blow the game open and make it 12-5. 

Zach Gleason silenced the Illini offense, coming in for the sixth and earning the four-inning save. He did not allow a hit and struck out four with just one walk to get his first save of the season. 

Notes 

• Trevor Cohen now owns the program record with 43 hits in Big Ten play, breaking the previous mark of 41 by Ryan Lasko in 2022.
• Cohen recorded his 204th career hit, moving into 18th place all-time in program history. 
• The Rutgers offense has recorded double-digit hits in 10 straight games. 
• Ty Doucette recorded his team-best 24th multi-hit game of the season. 
• Brennan Hyde recorded his ninth multi-hit game of the season. 
• Matt Chatelle recorded his seventh multi-hit game of the season. 

Up next for Rutgers is the final midweek game of the season, a home showdown against Rider at 6 p.m. Wednesday. 

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