PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The Columbia baseball team dropped its non-conference finale, 15-4, at Rutgers Tuesday afternoon. The Lions, who were held to three hits in the contest, dropped to 16-26 on the season.

The Scarlet Knights, already leading 1-0 after one inning, put up a five-spot in the bottom of the second. Two walks set up a two-out rally and Ke Blum doubled the lead with an RBI single. Nyisztor plated a pair with a two-run hit and Matera made it 6-0 with a two-run knock.

Blum added a sac fly in the third and an infield single to bring in another tally in the fifth. Rutgers added five more in the sixth. All of the scores were unearned after a fielding error by the Lions. A two-run pinch-hit single by McLaughlin completed the Rutgers scoring.

Columbia's first run came in the top of the fifth when AJ DiFillipo and Josh Nicoloff started the frames with walks, moved into scoring position after a groundout and Ben Porter lofted a sac fly to left to break up the shutout bid.

In the eighth, the Lions loaded the bases with one out and a two-run single by Lane Robinette made it 15-3. However, Columbia only added one more on an RBI groundout from Griffin Williams.

The Lions will have this weekend off for final exams before closing out the regular season at Cornell on May 12-13.