NEWARK, NJ—Keystone College continued its string of impressive pitching performances Monday afternoon.
Only this time, it was junior Christopher Adams who stole the spotlight, scattering four hits while striking out eight in eight innings as the Giants defeated Rutgers-Newark, 3-0, for their seventh straight win. Senior Tyler Widitz came on in relief and struck out a batter en route to recording his team-leading fourth save as Keystone improved to 10-5 overall.
Adams did not walk a batter in improving his pitching record to 2-0 and lowered his earned run average to 2.93.
Keystone pushed across two runs in the third inning as sophomore Adam Kelly walked, advanced to third on sacrifice bunts by sophomore Ryan Callahan and junior Mohammed Hussein, and scored on a wild pitch. Callahan eventually scored on a ground out to the left side of the infield by junior Johann Paniagua.
The Giants added an insurance run in the fifth when Hussein singled, stole second, moved up to third on a single by Paniagua, and scored on a sacrifice bunt by junior Chris Panzarella. For the game, Keystone finished with six hits, including two each by Paniagua and Kelly.
But it's been the starting pitching that has been the story for the Giants' success in the early going. Today marks the fourth straight game a Keystone starter has pitched into at least the seventh inning. Overall, Giant starters have pitched into the seventh inning in eight of 15 games.
Keystone returns to action tomorrow against Penn State-Berks in Reading, Pennsylvania, beginning at 3:30 p.m.
Keystone news & notes
- Adams' eight strikeouts give him 20 on the season in 27.1 innings of work
- Hussein leads the team in hits (20), batting average (.377), and slugging percentage (.453)
- Giants have raised their team batting average by over 100 points in their last nine games; Keystone was batting just .143 after their first six games and are now hitting .246
- Four players have started all 15 games—juniors Dakota McFadden and Ronald Medina, Kelly and Panzarella
- Keystone returns home Thursday, March 29, to host Drew University in a 9-inning non-conference game at Christy Mathewson Field beginning at 3:30 pm.