Baseball Shut Out at Rutgers

Rutgers' pitching trio of Serafino Brito, Christian Campbell, and Kevin Romero limited the Rams to just five hits on Wednesday, as the Scarlet Knights shut out the Fordham Rams, 5-0, at Bainton Field in Piscataway, N.J.
 
With the loss, Fordham falls to 14-15 on the year, while Rutgers moved to 12-16.
 
Rutgers got on the board right away, scoring three times in the first and once in the second for a 4-0 lead.  In the first, Mike Carter reached on a one-out single and scored on a triple by Tom Marcinczyk.  On the same play, Joseph Runco dropped the relay throw, which allowed Marcinczyk to score on the play.  Jawuan Harris then doubled to right center and scored on a single by Christian Campbell.
 
The second inning also saw the Scarlet Knights take advantage of a Fordham error, as with runners at first and third and two outs, Fordham pitcher Reiss Knehr threw a pickoff throw over the head of Matthew Kozuch, allowing another run to score.
 
The Scarlet Knights added to the lead in the fifth on a strange sequence.  With two outs and a runner at third, Fordham reliever Joseph Serrapica struck out his third batter of the inning, as Marcinczyk went down looking.  The ball looked to be tossed out of the glove of Pat Gardner to the mound following the third out, as Marcinczyk argued the strike call and Fordham cleared the field.  The Rutgers bench believed it was a dropped third strike, and yelled at Marcinczyk to run to first as the runner at third crossed the plate.  After an umpire conference, it was determined that Gardner dropped the third strike, allowing the run to count for a 5-0 lead.

 
From there, it was all pitching, as the Scarlet Knights held Fordham to just five hits, and did not allow a baserunner to third.  Serafino Brito earned the win, improving to 3-2, as he gave up three hits over five innings of work. 
 
For Fordham, Luke Stampfl (1-1) took the loss, allowing three runs on four hits.  Serrapica tossed three innings of relief, posting six strikeouts, while Parker Barnell, Anthony DiMeglio, and Ryan Remo each pitched a scoreless inning of relief with Knehr giving up one run in his one inning of work.  At the plate, Ian Edmiston was 2-for-3, while Runco, Gardner, and Matthew Kozuch had the remaining hits.
 
The Fordham baseball team will next be in action on Friday, April 8^th, when the Rams travel to Philadelphia to start a three-game Atlantic 10 series at La Salle, starting at 3:00 PM.