MIAMI, FL - Junior Jack Egbert (Rutherford, NJ) allowed
just four hits and three runs over seven strong innings and fellow junior Jeff
Frazier (Toms River, NJ) delivered a pair of key, two-out RBI singles to lead
Rutgers past Florida International, 4-3, halting a six-game losing streak in
the process. Freshman Steve Healing (Brick, NJ) earned his first career save,
pitching the final 2.0 innings and stranding the potential tying run at third
base in the bottom of the ninth. With the win, RU is now 5-10, while FIU falls
to 12-16.
FIU scored first, plating a single run in the bottom of the first on a single,
steal, balk and sacrifice fly by PJ Lehmann. Rutgers tied the score in the
third when Cory Rodriguez (Bridgewater, NJ) led off with a single to right-center,
stole second, moved to third on a passed ball and scored on an Jeff Grose's
(Iselin, NJ) groundout. The Scarlet Knights took a 2-1 lead in the fifth when
Graig Badger (Union, NJ) walked, stole second and scored on a two-out single
from Jeff Frazier (Toms River, NJ).
In the sixth, RU added a run to increase its lead to 3-1 when Colin Gaynor
(Toms River, NJ) roped a leadoff double to left-center, advanced to thid on
a selfless groundout by Rich Canuso (Monroe, NJ) and scored on a sacrifice
fly off the bat of Nick Cerulo (Woodbridge, NJ).
Egbert, meanwhile, cruised into the sixth, retiring nine of 10 hitters from
the first through the fourth inning, including five in a row on strikeouts.
He allowed a walk in the third, hit a batter in the fourth, but was otherwise
brilliant into the sixth, when Lehmann led off with a double and scored on
a one-out single by Yahmed Yema to cut the lead to 3-2.
The Scarlet Knight reestablished its two-run lead with another run in the
seventh. Jason Grover (Montgomery, NJ) struck out to open the inning, but reached
first when the pitched bounced in the dirt and the throw to first was bobble
by first baseman Michael Lopez. Grover moved to second on a groundout from
Grose and scored on Frazier's two-out single to center, his second two-out
RBI of the game.
FIU cut the lead to one, 4-3, with a solo home run from Danny Diaz to open
the eighth, followed by a walk, ending Egbert's day. Healing entered
the game and allowed a sacrifice bunt, but kept the lead intact with a foul
popup and a strikeout of Lopez. In the ninth, the Golden Panthers worked a
leadoff walk and moved the runner to third, but a pair of nice defensive plays
by freshman Tim Querns (Cherry Hill, NJ) at third preserved the victory.
Frazier led the team with a 2-for-5, two RBI effort, extending his hitting
streak to 12 games, while Canuso was also 2-for-4. Egbert improved to 2-1 with
the win.
Following an off day tomorrow, the Scarlet Knights close their spring trip
with a game vs. Ohio State at Florida Atlantic on Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
** 2004 RUTGERS BASEBALL **
Rutgers at Florida Int'l
Mar 18, 2004 at Miami, FL (University Park)
Rutgers 4 (5-10) Florida Int'l 3 (11-16)
Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI
--------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------
BADGER, Graig 2b........... 3 1 0 0 D. Diaz cf................. 4 2 2 1
GROSE, Jeff dh............. 4 0 1 1 PJ Lehmann 2b.............. 1 1 1 1
FRAZIER, Jeff rf........... 5 0 2 2 C. Jacobs c................ 3 0 0 0
DEFENDIS, Johnny lf........ 4 0 1 0 Y. Yema rf................. 4 0 1 1
GAYNOR, Colin c............ 4 1 1 0 M. Lopez 1b................ 4 0 0 0
CANUSO, Rich 1b............ 4 0 2 0 J. Skellengr dh............ 2 0 0 0
CERULO, Nick cf............ 3 0 1 1 E. Otero pr............... 0 0 0 0
RODRIGUEZ, Cory 3b......... 4 1 1 0 F. Alvarez lf.............. 3 0 0 0
QUERNS, Tim 3b............ 0 0 0 0 J. Bacon 3b................ 3 0 0 0
GROVER, Jason ss........... 4 1 0 0 B. Aragon ph.............. 1 0 0 0
EGBERT, Jack p............. 0 0 0 0 E. Davila ss............... 3 0 0 0
HEALING, Steve p.......... 0 0 0 0 M. Suarez ph.............. 1 0 0 0
D. DeCarlo p............... 0 0 0 0
D. Antelo p............... 0 0 0 0
D. Hernandez p............ 0 0 0 0
Totals..................... 35 4 9 4 Totals..................... 29 3 4 3
Score by Innings R H E
-------------------------------------------
Rutgers............. 001 011 100 - 4 9 1
Florida Int'l....... 100 001 010 - 3 4 3
-------------------------------------------
E - Rodriguez; C. Jacobs; M. Lopez; J. Bacon. DP - Florida Intl 1. LOB - Rutgers 8;
Florida Intl 6. 2B - Gaynor; PJ Lehmann. HR - D. Diaz. HBP - J. Skellengr. SH - C.
Jacobs; F. Alvarez. SF - Cerulo; PJ Lehmann. SB - Badger; Rodriguez; D. Diaz; Y.
Yema. CS - Grose.
Rutgers IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
EGBERT, Jack W,2-1........ 7.0 4 3 3 2 9 0 1 1 0 25 29 4 8
HEALING, Steve S,1........ 2.0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 4 7 1 4
Florida Int'l IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
D. DeCarlo L,1-4.......... 6.0 5 3 2 3 10 0 0 0 0 22 26 3 4
D. Antelo ................. 2.1 4 1 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 12 12 2 2
D. Hernandez .............. 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1
HBP - by Egbert (J. Skellengr). BK - Egbert. PB - C. Jacobs.
Strikeouts - Badger 3; Grose; Frazier 2; Defendis; Cerulo; Rodriguez 3; Grover 3; D.
Diaz; C. Jacobs; M. Lopez 2; J. Skellengr; F. Alvarez; J. Bacon 2; E. Davila 2.
Walks - Badger 2; Grose; PJ Lehmann 2; J. Skellengr.
Umpires - HP: William Kramer 1B: Phil Martucci 3B: Greg Ottsky
Start: 7:00 pm Time: 2:49 Attendance: 250
Game notes:
ID-254637
Egbert faced 2 batters in the 8th.
Game: FIU-2
