WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ - Freshmen Jim Jansen (Pascack Valley,
NJ) and Matt Pustay (Hamilton, NJ) turned in strong pitching efforts, while
Nick Cerulo (Woodbridge, NJ) homered in the third inning to lead Rutgers past
Monmouth, 8-2, today in West Long Branch. Proving that the second time is a
charm, Jansen rebounded from a rough outing in his first collegiate start to
earn his first win, while Pustay provided another impressive relief outing to
earn his first collegiate save. With the win, RU is now 7-11, while Monmouth
falls to 4-13.
It took Rutgers just two batters into the game to provide Jansen with a cushion,
as Graig Badger (Union, NJ) led off with a walk and scored on a triple to right
field by Jeff Grose (Iselin, NJ). After Jeff Frazier (Toms River, NJ) reached
on an error, scoring Grose, and Vinny Esposito (Middletown, NJ) singled, senior
first baseman Steve Normane (Pt. Pleasant, NJ) drove home two more runs with
a double to right-center, raising the lead to 4-0.
While Monmouth recovered an unearned run in the bottom of the first, Rutgers
went back to work in the third, plating two more to take a 6-1 lead. Normane
singled to right with one out and scored when Cerulo homered to left field,
his second of the season. Monmouth pushed across a single run in the fifth on
an RBI single from Frank Pilitowski, but Rutgers scored once more in the seventh
and again in the eighth, while Pustay fired four shutout innings to end the
game.
Rutgers scored its run in the seventh when Badger (1-for-4, 2 runs) led off
with a single and scored on a single by Frazier (2-for-5, 2 RBI). In the eighth,
Cerulo singled to right and scored on a passed ball.
Jansen (1-1), who gave up six runs in 1.1 innings in his first start, allowed
just five hits, all singles, and one earned run in 5.0 innings. He walked one
and struck out two. Pustay pitched four shutout innings for his first save,
allowing three singles and one walk. He struck out one. Rutgers has nine hits
- two each by Frazier, Normane and Cerulo.
The Scarlet Knights return to action on Friday, when play a BIG EAST doubleheader
at Pittsburgh beginning at 12:00 noon.
** 2003 RUTGERS BASEBALL **
Rutgers University at Monmouth University
04/02/03 at W. Long Branch, N.J. (MU Baseball Field)
Rutgers University 8 (7-11) Monmouth University 2 (4-13)
Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI
--------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------
BADGER, Graig 2b........... 4 2 1 0 Lewis rf................... 5 1 1 0
GROSE, Jeff lf............. 4 1 1 1 Koenig 2b.................. 2 0 1 0
SHADE, Leon ph............ 1 0 0 0 Pilitowski cf.............. 3 0 1 2
DEFENDIS, Johnny lf....... 0 0 0 0 Clancy 1b/3b............... 4 0 0 0
FRAZIER, Jeff rf........... 5 1 2 2 St. Martine c.............. 3 0 1 0
ESPOSITO, Vinny 3b......... 4 1 1 0 DeFilippo c............... 0 0 0 0
RODRIGUEZ, Cory ph/3b..... 0 0 0 0 Rotella ph................ 1 0 0 0
WOLSKI, Matt dh............ 4 0 0 0 Hussa c................... 1 0 0 0
GAYNOR, Colin ph.......... 0 0 0 0 Massari dh................. 2 0 0 0
NORMANE, Steve 1b.......... 4 1 2 2 Ciminiello ph/1b.......... 1 0 0 0
CERULO, Nick cf............ 4 2 2 2 Weres 3b/dh................ 3 0 0 0
MOSKOWITZ, Lee c........... 2 0 0 0 Apicelli lf................ 3 0 0 0
GROVER, Jason ss........... 3 0 0 0 Panzarella ph............. 1 0 0 0
JANSEN, Jim p.............. 0 0 0 0 Kelly ss................... 4 1 4 0
PUSTAY, Matt p............ 0 0 0 0 Palmieri p................. 0 0 0 0
Zadina p.................. 0 0 0 0
Carone p.................. 0 0 0 0
Keeton p.................. 0 0 0 0
Petillo p................. 0 0 0 0
Grande p.................. 0 0 0 0
Totals..................... 35 8 9 7 Totals..................... 33 2 8 2
Score by Innings R H E
-------------------------------------------
Rutgers University.. 402 000 110 - 8 9 1
Monmouth University. 100 010 000 - 2 8 3
-------------------------------------------
E - BADGER; St. Martine; DeFilippo; Weres. DP - Rutgers 2. LOB - Rutgers 5; Monmouth
8. 2B - NORMANE. 3B - GROSE. HR - CERULO. HBP - Koenig. SF - Pilitowski. SB - BADGER
2; FRAZIER; ESPOSITO; Lewis. CS - RODRIGUEZ.
Rutgers University IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
JANSEN, Jim W,1-1......... 5.0 5 2 1 1 2 0 0 1 0 19 22 7 5
PUSTAY, Matt S,1.......... 4.0 3 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 14 15 6 4
Monmouth University IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Palmieri L,2-2............ 1.0 3 4 3 2 2 1 0 0 0 6 8 0 0
Zadina .................... 2.0 3 2 2 1 2 0 0 0 0 9 10 3 1
Carone .................... 2.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 6 4 2
Keeton .................... 2.0 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 8 3 3
Petillo ................... 1.0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 4 5 2 1
Grande .................... 1.0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 3 1 0
WP - Palmieri. HB - JANSEN. PB - MOSKOWITZ; DeFilippo 2.
Strikeouts - SHADE; WOLSKI 2; CERULO; GROVER; Clancy; St. Martine; Massari. Walks -
BADGER; RODRIGUEZ; MOSKOWITZ 2; GROVER; Koenig; Massari.
Umpires - Home:Mark Savedoff 1st:Paul McColgan
Start: 3:00 pm Time: 2:30 Attendance: 236
Game: BB17RUTG
