HOBOKEN, N.J. (March 23, 2022)  – With rain threatening and extra innings possibly on the horizon, senior Ryan Wall of the Stevens Institute of Technology baseball team made sure neither event came into play.

Wall delivered a mammoth three-run, walk-off home run to send the Ducks over Rutgers University-Newark 9-8 Wednesday in a non-conference contest at Dobbelaar Field.

Senior Brett Mendez began the winning rally by working a leadoff walk against the Scarlet Raiders' hard-throwing closer Alex Couto (1-1) after falling behind in the count. The Ducks' leadoff hitter moved to second on a wild pitch and junior Ben Tobio reached on an infield single to set the stage for Wall's heroics. 

After Couto's first offering was well off the plate, the Scarlet Raiders' closer grooved his next one. Wall turned on the pitch and drove it well beyond the Duck logo in right field for his second blast of the game and the second multi-homer contest of his career. The Levittown, New York reached base in all five of his plate appearances, finishing 3 for 3 with a pair of walks, with six RBI.
    
Junior Michael Reyes (1-1), who began the contest in center field, fired a scoreless inning to earn his first collegiate victory as Stevens won its second straight to move to 13-6 on the year. 

Couto was charged with three runs without recording an out. He had not been scored upon in his two prior outings. The setback was the second straight for Rutgers-Newark, who fell to 8-5 on the year. Stevens has won four of the last five meetings between the teams, all of which have been played in Hoboken.     

"Although I thought we didn't play at our best today, it was a good win for us," head coach Kristaps Aldins said. "Winning non-conference games is oftentimes a test of a team's depth and once again, that depth showed itself for us."

"We got some nice pitching performances from Mark DeCicco, Alex Smith, Joseph Gonzalez and Michael Reyes," Aldins continued. "Certainly Ryan Wall had an incredible game and provided the walk-off home run, but Jack Irby needs to be recognized, as well, because his pinch-hit walk led to a key two-out run in the sixth. It's at-bats like that that help win games and I am proud of Jack for being locked in and ready like he always is. Today, this focus was central to us getting an important win."

The Ducks used a trio of three-run innings to account for their nine runs. Wall opened scoring in the first, connecting on a first-pitch offering from Rutgers-Newark starter Daniel Reardon, and depositing it well over the fence for his second longball of the year. Reardon had walked both Mendez and Tobio to begin the rally.

Down a run, the Ducks touched Reardon and reliever Dan Greene in the sixth. Wall led off the inning with a walk and came around to score on a homer off the bat of graduate student Hunter Silvernail. After a flyout, graduate student Thomas Paulich singled to short but was caught stealing. Pinch-hitter Jack Irby walked to continue the inning. Senior Ryan Finegan was hit by a pitch to advance pinch-runner Peter Mastropolo and force a pitching change. First-year Evan Pravato greeted Greene with a single through the left side on the reliever's third offering. 

Junior Mark DeCicco made his second career start and fired three scoreless frames before running into trouble in the fourth. Graduate student Alex Smith relieved the Ducks' left-hander and limited the damage, needing just 15 pitches to record four outs. 

The Ducks' ninth-inning rally was necessary because the Scarlet Raiders three times in the seventh and one in the eight to take an 8-6 lead. Interestingly enough, only three of Rutgers-Newark's 16 hits were for extra bases. 

The top of Stevens' lineup really sparked the offense, combining for four hits and six walks and seven of the Ducks' nine runs. The Ducks currently lead the MAC Freedom in on-base percentage (0.444) and walks (144), while ranking second in slugging percentage (0.455).

Up Next: Baseball returns to MAC Freedom play on Friday, Mar. 25, taking on Delaware Valley in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. and links for live stats and video are posted to StevensDucks.com.

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