PISCATAWAY, N.J. (May 19, 2010) – Sophomore Russ Hopkins (Piscataway, N.J.) went 3-for-5 with two RBI and seniors Jarred Jimenez (Monroe, N.J.) and Jayson Hernandez (Belmar, N.J.) each homered to lead the Rutgers baseball team to an 8-2 victory over FDU Wednesday afternoon at Bainton Field.
Rutgers (26-23) fell behind 1-0 on a second-inning RBI single from FDU’s Scott Morrison but tied it up one inning later on a two-out RBI single back up the middle from Hopkins.
Morrison followed a Ryan Kresky double to right field with a single to right field two batters later to bring home his second run of the game and put the Knights (14-36) back on top 2-1.
Jimenez got that run back with one swing of the bat, taking a 1-1 offering from FDU starter Terry Lydecker over the left-field fence to lead off the bottom half of the fourth and tie it back up.
The Scarlet Knights pushed across a pair of runs in the sixth to take the lead for good as Jimenez (walk) moved to second on a wild pitch and advanced to third on a well-executed bunt single from Dan Betteridge (Sewell, N.J.) where he scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Hernandez. Junior Pat Biserta (Pt. Pleasant, N.J.) singled home Betteridge later in the frame to make it 4-2.
With the two-run lead, Rutgers starter Kyle Bradley (Howell, N.J.) handed the ball over to reliever Rob Smorol (Clark, N.J.) in the seventh and the freshman recorded two scoreless innings.
RU extended its lead to 8-2 with a four-run eighth inning as the Scarlet Knights completed the cycle in the frame. Hernandez cleared the wall in left field for a leadoff home run to bring home the first run and freshman Steve Nyisztor (Toms River, N.J.) followed a Biserta single with an RBI triple to the wall in left-center field. RU got a third run home on a wild pitch and plated the fourth run of the frame on a Hopkins RBI double to left-field.
Senior Kevin Lillis (Fair Haven, N.J.) came in to work a 1-2-3 ninth for RU and seal the win.
Bradley (3-2) earned the win in six innings of work, while Lydecker (1-2) picked up the loss with four runs allowed in 6.2 innings.
Rutgers continues its four-game homestand tomorrow as the Scarlet Knights open their three-game BIG EAST series with St. John’s at 1 p.m. at Bainton Field.
