The fact that Rutgers took part in the first intercollegiate football game on Nov. 6, 1869, is a badge of honor for the university, which proclaims to be the "Birthplace of College Football'' as a result of playing Princeton to a 6-4 win on a patch of sod in New Brunswick where the College Avenue Gymnasium now stands.

That same school year, on June 20, 1870, the Rutgers men's crew team rowed against the Lawrence Scientific School of Harvard on the Raritan River in New Brunswick.

But it's a little known fact that the Rutgers baseball team holds the distinction of staging the first intercollegiate athletics event in the university's history.

On May 5, 1866 -- 20 years after baseball was born on a field 25 miles north in Hoboken and only 13 months after the Civil War came to an end -- eight members of the so-called Rutgers Base Ball Club traveled to the Princeton Grounds and lost, 40-2, to the "Nassaus."

A box score that appeared in a 1901-published book, Athletics at Princeton: A History, showed Rutgers to be at a disadvantage that day, playing the Princeton 9 without a centerfielder.

The May 7-11, 1866, edition of the Princeton Packet documented the game by writing: "The match game of Base Ball played on Saturday last upon the College ball grounds between the Nassau and Rutger's clubs resulted in a decisive victory for the former."

Frank Presbrey and James Hugh Moffatt, in their 1901 Princeton athletics history book, described the Nassaus' 1866 opener like this:

"The first game was against Rutgers and resulted in the severe defeat of the visitors by the score of 40-2. Rutgers was at a disadvantage playing on the strange and rough ground and with only eight men. After the supper at the Mansion House, Rutgers challenged the Nassaus to a return game on the following Saturday, but the challenge was not accepted because of the approaching Greek examinations.''

According to old newspaper accounts, a coin flip decided the order of batting. After allowing four runs in the top of the first inning, Rutgers batted second and scored its only two runs on the nine-inning game.

Due to scheduling conflicts the past few years, the Central Jersey rivals haven't met since the 2012 season but both coaches indicated a willingness for their teams to renew acquaintances in the years ahead.

Joe Litterio, who wasn't aware that the Rutgers baseball team he manages had played in the school's first intercollegiate sporting event 150 years ago today, has a deep appreciation for his program's tradition.

An infielder on some of Rutgers' winningest teams in the early 1990s, Litterio took over the Scarlet Knights program in 2014.

"As a program, I think we all share a respect for what was done in the past,'' said Litterio, whose office wall includes a vintage photo of the 1890 baseball club. "It's something that we talk about as a program. We talk about the history of it, all the alumni that has played here before, and that tradition is something that carries on with these guys.''

His counterpart south along Route 1 also considers himself to be a history buff when it comes to baseball tradition.

Scott Bradley is in his 19th season in the Princeton dugout, taking over the Ivy League program after a year as an assistant under Rutgers' Hall of Fame coach Fred Hill in 1996.

Like Litterio, Bradley's office includes memorabilia from Princeton's early baseball days.

"When you're at a place like Princeton you understand how deep the tradition goes,'' Bradley said. "It's funny because I was sent a picture that somebody had drawn and a lot of the (past players) had signed it. They signed it and then they put their graduation year, and there were times where you would see somebody's name and a '92. And then I would look closer and I'd realize, 'Ok, that is not 1992. That's 1892.'

"So I just look at that and really appreciate how long baseball has been a part of Princeton.''

Keith Sargeant may be reached at ksargeant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @KSargeantNJ. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.