True to form, RU blows early lead to UDel

The Delaware Blue Hens came to Bainton Field for a game against the Rutgers men’s baseball team yesterday with a .329 team batting average — and it showed.
The Scarlet Knights countered with a 6.53 team ERA — and that showed just as much.
The game itself, a 12-5 loss for RU, showed every reason why the Knights now have a record of 17-25.
“That was disgusting; there was no effort, no energy, just a really lackadaisical performance,” said RU first baseman Jaren Matthews, who was one of the team’s lone bright spots, going 3-4 with three runs scored. “We acted like we didn’t want to be here today.”
After hanging with the Blue Hens through four innings, the Knights went through three different pitchers who surrendered a total of eight runs in the fifth inning.
From there, despite a Blue Hen pitching staff that looked anything but overpowering, RU, in every aspect of the game, went ice cold.
“We were out there for a long time [in the top of the fifth],” Matthews said. “[In the inning,] we got down a lot of runs, and we might have packed it in at that point, I think.”
Though he battled control problems all game, starting pitcher Kyle Bradley only allowed one hit through the first three innings — escaping each without giving up a run.
Those control problems, however, caught up to Bradley in the fourth inning.
Delaware used one of its two triples in the game — this one by shortstop Kyle Davis — to score three runs and tie the game at three.
The early lead that RU built came solely on the backs of the middle of the team order.
“I thought the middle of our lineup did produce and we got some timely hits from [designated hitter Pat Biserta] and Jaren and [catcher Jayson Hernandez],” said Scarlet Knights manager Fred Hill, Sr. “They have been consistent at the plate all year.”
Matthews singled in his first three at bats, and each time his teammates made sure he crossed home plate safely.
Biserta drove Matthews in twice, once in the first inning and again in the third. Hernandez drove Matthews in on a single in the fifth inning giving him two RBI in a 2-4 performance.
Other than Blue Hen starter Will Blackman, who was pulled after allowing three runs through three innings, the Delaware pitching staff held the RU lineup in check.
The most crucial performance for the Blue Hens came from relief pitcher Matt Harden. The submarine-style pitcher allowed one run through three and a third innings and made sure the Knights couldn’t come back into the game after the fifth inning.
“Their pitchers weren’t overpowering,” Matthews said. “I think we were probably just flat. Some guys were trying to do a little too much. We were down by eight runs, and we wanted to get a big double and a big hit instead of just getting a single. But we’re going to come back tomorrow and keep trying hard.”
RU now has one game left, tomorrow at Bainton Field, to prepare before a Big East series against West Virginia that could potentially leave them mathematically eliminated from the final Big East playoff spot.

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