Rutgers Baseball Battles Through Keith LeClair Classic to Earn One Win in Greenville
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The Rutgers Scarlet Knights baseball team made the trip to Greenville, North Carolina. It was for the Keith LeClair Classic, and they came away with one win in a three-game stretch, moving to 5-5 on the season. The Rutgers Scarlet Knights were mercy-ruled by the East Carolina Pirates. The team bludgeoned the Western Carolina Catamounts and then dropped a tight pitchers’ duel to the Troy Trojans.
Keith LeClair Overpowers Rutgers Baseball
Sunday’s finale returned to a grind-it-out style. On just the second at-bat of the game, Troy’s Jimmy Janicki connected for a solo home run, giving the Trojans a 1-0 lead.
Sunday final. pic.twitter.com/FVVnE5kFwA
— Rutgers Baseball (@RutgersBaseball) March 1, 2026
From there, Rutgers’ pitching staff locked in. Freshman Chris Sand, graduate student Joe Mazza, and senior Vincent Borghese combined to keep Troy largely contained. Sand and Mazza worked through the first seven innings, limiting hard contact and minimizing scoring threats.
The Scarlet Knights finished with just three hits, two of them coming off Troy starter Benjamin Stubbs. Stubbs delivered seven strong innings, allowing only three baserunners and striking out four. Trailing 1-0 in the eighth with Stubbs out of the game, Rutgers scratched across a run the gritty way. Salinas scored on a wild pitch from Dylan Alonso, tying the game and injecting life into the dugout.
The momentum, however, was short-lived. In the top of the ninth, Caden Reeves delivered an RBI single off Borghese that proved to be the difference. Bonds doubled with one out in the bottom half and advanced to third, representing the tying run. However, he was stranded as Rutgers fell 2-1.
The weekend in Greenville showcased the highs and lows of early-season baseball. A 14-run loss. A six-home-run explosion. A one-run heartbreak. Rutgers now sits at 5-5, having lost four of its last five games after that earlier four-game winning streak.
The offense swung between explosive and quiet. The pitching staff showed flashes of dominance but also endured rough stretches. Consistency remains the missing piece.
Talking about the games, let's head back to the first one. After ripping off a blistering four-game winning streak earlier in the schedule, Rutgers has now dropped four of its last five contests. One game ended early via the mercy rule.
As the team heads back to New Jersey, it does so sitting at an even .500, searching for the defensive and offensive balance needed before Big Ten play heats up. Friday’s opener was Rutgers’ toughest outing of the season. The Scarlet Knights fell 14-2 in seven innings, absorbing their largest defeat so far.
The Pirates jumped on junior pitcher Dallin Harrison in the first inning, building a 3-0 lead before stretching it to 7-0 in the second. Grady Lenahan powered the early surge with a two-run home run. Harrison lasted just one inning, giving up eight hits and six earned runs before Jack Kirchner came on in relief.
Rutgers managed to get on the board with an RBI single from Peyton Bonds, and Tristan Salinas later added an RBI single of his own. But sustained offense never materialized. East Carolina tacked on four more runs over the next two innings and added three in the fifth to push the lead to 13.
Six Home Runs Power Rutgers to 9-3 Win Over Western Carolina
Saturday delivered exactly that.
Behind a commanding performance from redshirt sophomore Zack Konstantinovsky, Rutgers earned a 9-3 victory. Konstantinovsky turned in the longest outing by a Scarlet Knight starter this season, tossing seven scoreless innings and striking out six. He has quietly become the most consistent arm in the rotation.
At the plate, Rutgers flipped the script entirely. The Knights launched six home runs in a single game. Freshman infielder Joey Erace ignited the fireworks with a two-run homer in the second inning. Shortly after, Yomar Carreras added a solo shot. By the fifth inning, Rutgers was still teeing off, hitting two more home runs off Carter Burnette before he exited the game.
Leading 7-0 in the seventh, Salinas crushed a two-run homer to extend the advantage to 9-0. Western Carolina managed a solo home run in the eighth, but that was the extent of the damage.
The contrast from Friday could not have been sharper. After scoring just twice in the opener, Rutgers piled up nine runs and overwhelmed its opponent with power. It was a reminder of the offense’s potential when timing and discipline align.
Next up, Rutgers opens its first homestand of the season with a midweek matchup against the Georgetown Hoyas baseball team on Tuesday. The first pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.
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Shayni Maitra is a sports girl through and through writing about everything from locker room drama to game-day legends in the NFL and NBA. She’s covered the action for outlets like College Sports Network, Sportskeeda, EssentiallySports, NB Media, and PinkVilla, blending sharp takes with a deep love for storytelling. Whether it’s college football rivalries, Olympic gold-chasers, or the off-field chaos that keeps Twitter alive, Shayni brings the heat with heart—and just the right amount of humor.