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Rutgers baseball continued their B1G season on Big Ten Network Saturday night at Iowa. It just went final.
Rutgers evened up the series with a 5-3 win and here’s how it went down ...
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Top 1: Two web gems by Iowa keep Rutgers off the bases.
Bottom 1: Iowa star first baseman Jake Adams rips a hanger from Serafino Brito for a single. He gets stranded.
Top 2: More close plays at first base go against the Knights and game remains tied 0-0.
Bottom 3: Brito allowed a solo HR to Whelan, Knights now trail 1-0.
Top 4: RBI groundout from Campbell and 2 out single by Folinusz give Knights the lead 2-1.
Bottom 4: Huge jam, 2 on 2 out. Ground ball to short that Welsh handles to preserve the 2-1 advantage for the Scarlet Knights.
Top 5: Freeman’s leadoff double followed by a sac bunt by Welsh mishandled. A wild pitch scores Freeman to give Rutgers a 3-1 edge. Harris and Martinez both line out to strand Welsh at 3rd.
Bottom 5: A two out single by McCoy sets the stage for Adams who though fooled by an 0-2 curveball settles for a double. The ball hit halfway up the wall, but McCoy has to stop at third since it was hit so hard and Martinez got the ball in quickly. Neustrom grounds to second to end the inning. RU still leads 3-1.
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Top 6: Campbell doubles. Sclafani knocks in Campbell but is thrown out trying for a triple. Knights lead 4-1.
Bottom 6: Cropley singles for Iowa, he is now 3 for 3. Brito escapes trouble, stranding two more, still 4-1.
Top 7: Two walks to start the inning bring Carter, the B1G leading hitter, to the plate. He fails to get the bunt down and a controversial call of runner interference results in a double play AND moves Freeman back to 2nd base. Wow. Harris flies out deep to right center to end the threat.
Bottom 7: Fleming relieves Brito to face the top of the ‘O’ and walks the lead off man. A dropped pop up by Sclafani is offset by a heads up play by Freeman to cut down the lead runner for the first out. A strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out ends the inning with nothing across.
Top 8: Knights go down 1-2-3.
Bottom 8: Leadoff walk by Fleming is followed by great job of him covering first to secure a ground out. Fleming gets another groundout on a nice play by Campbell at third before being removed for right hander Ryan Wares with two out and a runner at 2nd. Wares throws a wild pitch but strikes out Farley looking to end the frame. Still 4-1 Knights.
Top 9: Folinusz rips a single and then Sclafani bunts that ultimately rolls 89 feet and is fair along the first base side by inches. The Knights looked to bunt again with Freeman but Folinusz is fooled and picked off for the first out. Freeman then singles Sclafani to third allowing Welsh to drop down a perfectly executed squeeze that Iowa can only attempt a glove shovel with no play anywhere. Knights lead 5-1 but Carter strikes out and Harris flies out to eliminate the opportunity for more insurance.
Bottom 9: Wares still on the hill. Grounder to short is thrown away by Welsh out of play advancing the batter to 2nd, a wild pitch moves him to 3rd. A comebacker holds the runner at 3rd as Wares throws to first for the out with the top of the Hawkeye order coming up to face Herrmann in relief.
Whelan clubs his second homer of the game to trim the deficit to 5-3, only one out and the big boys coming up. A HUGE strikeout of McCoy means Adams cannot tie the game with one swing.
Adams strikes out anyway to end the game.
Rutgers WINS and evens the series at a game apiece despite the Knights 1-4 batters going hitless in the contest.
John O’Reilly will pitch for the Knights Sunday, hoping to duplicate Brito’s 6 inning, one run performance Saturday. First pitch at 12:05 p.m. (CT).
VICTORY! Herrmann strikes out the last two to seal a 5-3 win at Iowa. Scarlet Knights force a rubber game. https://t.co/R9nEgteN7f
— Rutgers Baseball (@BaseballRU) April 23, 2017