HOUSTON – Rutgers' three pitchers held HBU to three hits as the Scarlet Knights claimed a 4-0 victory over the Huskies in the season opener Friday afternoon at Husky Field.
 
Senior second baseman Jake Miller went 2-for-4 for the Huskies (0-1), while junior centerfielder Austin Roccaforte went 1-for-3 with a walk.
 
Junior righthander Daxton Tinker (0-1) took the loss, giving up four runs, three earned, on eight hits with three strikeouts in four innings for HBU. Junior righthander Matthew Charles hurled four shutout innings in relief, allowing three hits with a pair of strikeouts.
 
Nick Cimillo went 2-for-4 with a double, an RBI and a run, while Ryan Lasko was 1-for-5 with a double, an RBI and scored twice for the Scarlet Knights (1-0). Mike Nyisztor was 2-for-5 and scored a run and Evan Sleight went 2-for-3.
 
Brian Fitzpatrick held the Huskies hitless through the first four innings, striking out seven with a walk. Sam Bello (1-0) earned the win, allowing no runs on three hits with three strikeouts and two walks in 4.1 innings of relief. Dale Stanavich came on in the ninth and induced a double play to end the game.
 
Rutgers scored in the top of the first when Lasko reached on an error, went to second on a wild pitch, then scored on a wild pitch and a throwing error for a 1-0 lead. The Scarlet Knights added a run in the fourth, when they got three-straight singles from Cimillo, Sleight and Jordan Sweeney, then an RBI groundout by Tony Santa Maria.
 
The Scarlet Knights picked up two more in the fifth on RBI doubles by Lasko and Cimillo.
 
The series continues Saturday with a 1 p.m. first pitch.