CNBNews

Media Release, April 22

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Sophomore Jarred Jimenez (Monroe, N.J.) hit a first-inning grand slam and the Rutgers baseball team never looked back en route to a 7-3 victory over Wagner Tuesday afternoon at Bainton Field.

Rutgers (15-21-1) got its first man aboard via a Donny Callahan (Sparta, N.J.) leadoff walk in the first and Wagner starter Andy Wells found himself in a jam after giving up a single to Tom Edwards (West Caldwell, N.J.). With two outs and a full count to Jaren Matthews (Teaneck, N.J.), the Seahawk hurler was one pitch away from getting out of it, but Matthews drew the walk to load the bases and Jimenez cleared them two pitches later with a grand slam over the right-field fence.

Wagner (15-18) manufactured a run in the third when Damian Csakai drew a leadoff walk, stole second and was sacrificed over to third where he scored two plays later on a groundout to make it 3-1.

The Seahawks then capitalized on an error to push across a pair of runs in the fourth and pull within one run of the Scarlet Knights. Joe Conforti followed a one-out double from Seth Boyd with a walk to put runners on first and second against starter Tony Wargo (New Providence, N.J.). A pickoff attempt at first base resulted in a wild throw from the catcher, allowing Boyd to score and Conforti to move over to third, where he would score on a sacrifice fly later in the at-bat to make it 4-3.

In the sixth, Rutgers had Luis Feliz (New Brunswick, N.J.) (walk) on third and Vic Cegles (Phoenix, Ariz.) on first with one out and Callahan executed a safety squeeze, with a bunt down the first-base line. The first baseman scooped the ball up and went home on the play, but the throw was high, sailing over the catcher's head and to the backstop. Feliz scored and Cegles and Callahan each advanced a base to move to second and third, respectively, on the error. Both runners eventually scored on back-to-back singles from Dan Betteridge (Sewell, N.J.) and Edwards as the Scarlet Knights built a 7-3 advantage.

RU threatened to add to their lead in both the seventh and eighth innings with a runner on third with two outs, but Wagner reliever David Rees got out of the jam with a groundout and a strikeout.

After recording his third-consecutive scoreless frame, Wargo handed the ball over to Matt Patterson (Passaic, N.J.) in the eighth. The reliever hurled two scoreless innings, as the Scarlet Knights punctuated the victory with a game-ending double-play.

Wargo scattered three hits and surrendered just one earned run with six strikeouts in seven innings to pick up his first victory of the season. Wells took the loss for Wagner with seven runs on eight hits and four strikeouts in six innings.