Owens Collects 1,000th Win as Baseball Shuts Out Hofstra
PISCATAWAY, N.J. (April 4, 2023) – Rutgers baseball earned his milestone 1,000th career victory on Tuesday, as the Scarlet Knights shut out Hofstra 5-0 at Bainton Field.
Rutgers (15-13) used efficient pitching and elite defense, which included four double plays, to defeat the Pride (10-17) for the second straight season.
Grant Besser made his first start of the season, being utilized as an opener. He did his job perfectly, tossing a 1-2-3 first inning.
Justin Sinibaldi came in for the second and threw five shutout innings, which included three double plays and no walks to help him earn the win and move to 3-1 on the season.
Drew Conover entered for the seventh and struck out the side. Joe Mazza walked a batter in the eighth, but quickly erased that with an inning-ending double play. Garrett French collected a strikeout in a 1-2-3 ninth to secure the victory.
Because of the dominant efforts on the mound, the five runs from the RU offense were more than enough. Chris Brito got the scoring started with an RBI single in the second and Evan Sleight doubled the lead in the third with another RBI single, making it 2-0. The Scarlet Knights posted three more runs in the eighth on a sac fly from Ryan Lasko, and RBI fielder’s choice from Trevor Cohen and an RBI single from Josh Kuroda-Grauer.
With the victory, Owens becomes just the ninth active coach in Division I to reach 1,000 career victories. More information on Owens’ milestone can be found here.
Rutgers will hit the road this weekend for a Big Ten series against Maryland, with game one set for 6:30 p.m. on Friday in College Park.