PISCATAWAY, NJ – The Rutgers baseball team (14-13, 6-2
BE) crept over the .500 mark as it swept a doubleheader from second-place Pittsburgh
(17-8, 5-4 BE) this afternoon at the Class of ’53 Baseball Complex. In
game one, junior Jack Egbert (Rutherford, NJ) dominated from start to finish,
firing a complete-game three-hit shutout en route to a 4-0 win. In the nightcap,
Rich Canuso (Monroe, NJ) drilled a two-out, RBI single to snap a 4-4 tie and
Tom Malafronte (Somerville, NJ) earned his third save in the last four games,
backing a strong starting effort from Shaun Parker (Mt. Holly, NJ) in an 8-5
win.
As well as Egbert has pitched in his Rutgers career, today’s performance
was arguably his most impressive. He allowed a pair of infield singles in the
first and, after a sacrifice bunt, found himself in second-and-third, one out
jam and the BIG EAST’s top hitter, PJ Hiser, coming to the plate. Egbert
fought back to strike out Hiser and received a nice diving play from Canuso
at first to escape the jam.
Rutgers countered with two runs in the bottom of the first, on Canuso’s
two-out double to right and a single from Johnny Defendis (Staten Island, NY).
Given the lead, Egbert cruised the rest of the way while RU added a single
run in the third on a solo home run by Jeff Frazier (Toms River, NJ), his seventh
of the season, and a two-out single from Jeff Grose (Iselin, NJ) in the fourth,
scoring Jason Grover (Montgomery, NJ), who reached on a single.
Egbert (5-1, 3-0 BE) allowed just one more hit the rest of the way – a
sixth-inning single – and threw just 69 pitches in his complete-game
effort. Of his 69 pitches, 55 of them were strikes, an impressive 79.7%. He
walked one hitter and struck out six, facing just three batters over the minimum.
He retired the side in order in the second, fifth and seventh innings and ended
the game with a strikeout of Bryan Spamer.
In the second game, Parker issued walks to three of the first four hitters
to load the bases with one out before Spamer stung a single to center, scoring
two runs. In the bottom of the inning, Rutgers fought back to tie the game
when Graig Badger (Union, NJ) led off with a single, Grose followed with a
walk and Colin Gaynor (Toms River, NJ) banged a two-run double to left-center.
RU added two more runs in the second, taking advantage of two Pittsburgh errors
and another RBI single from Canuso for a 4-2 lead.
Parker fired a 1-2-3 second innings, but allowed a two-run home run to Hiser
in third, which knotted the game at 4-4. With heavy rains falling, Rutgers
regained the lead, 5-4, on a two-out single from Canuso in the fifth, scoring
Grover, who led off with a single of his own.
The game continued through steady and, at times, heavy rain. Parker settled
down and fired blanks in the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings before
tiring in the eighth. Rutgers, meanwhile, tacked on three more runs in the
sixth to build an 8-4 lead.
A one-out Badger walk got things started and signaled the end of the day for
Pittsburgh starter TJ Gornati. Lefty Adam Luckette came in to face Grose and
failed to retire any of the five hitters he faced, allowing three singles and
pair of walks, leading to three runs – the big hit a two-run single by
Canuso.
Back-to-back walks from Parker to start the eighth offered Pittsburgh a glimmer
of hope, but Malafronte shut the door, pitching 1.2 shutout innings. He allowed
a single to the first hitter he faced, plating Pittsburgh’s fifth run,
but retired the next five he faced to end the game.
Canuso was 5-for-7 in today’s doubleheader with five RBI, including
a 3-for-4, four RBI effort in the nightcap. Nick Cerulo (Woodbridge, NJ) was
3-for-3 in the opener, while Gaynor was 2-for-5 with three RBI in the second
game. Parker (3-2) allowed six hits and five runs in 7.1 innings to earn the
win.
** 2004 RUTGERS BASEBALL **
Pittsburgh at Rutgers
Apr 08, 2004 at Piscataway, NJ (Class of 53 Complex)
Pittsburgh 0 (17-7,5-2 BE) Rutgers 4 (13-13,5-2 BE)
Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI
--------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------
Copeland, Ben cf........... 3 0 2 0 BADGER, Graig 2b........... 3 0 1 0
Parise, Peter rf........... 2 0 1 0 GROSE, Jeff lf............. 3 0 1 1
Negrych, Jim 2b............ 2 0 0 0 FRAZIER, Jeff rf........... 1 2 1 1
Hiser, PJ lf............... 2 0 0 0 CANUSO, Rich 1b............ 3 1 2 1
Cashman, Tom 1b............ 3 0 0 0 GAYNOR, Colin c............ 2 0 1 0
Spamer, Bryan ss........... 3 0 0 0 DEFENDIS, Johnny dh........ 3 0 2 1
Scanzano, Mike 3b.......... 2 0 0 0 RODRIGUEZ, Cory 3b......... 3 0 0 0
Rybczak, Alex c............ 2 0 0 0 CERULO, Nick cf............ 3 0 3 0
Zambriczki, Mike dh........ 2 0 0 0 GROVER, Jason ss........... 3 1 1 0
Kuss, Andrew p............. 0 0 0 0 EGBERT, Jack p............. 0 0 0 0
Totals..................... 21 0 3 0 Totals..................... 24 4 12 4
Score by Innings R H E
-----------------------------------------
Pittsburgh.......... 000 000 0 - 0 3 0
Rutgers............. 201 100 X - 4 12 0
-----------------------------------------
DP - PITT 2; Rutgers 1. LOB - PITT 3; Rutgers 6. 2B - Canuso; Cerulo. HR -
Frazier(7). HBP - Parise; Gaynor. SH - Negrych. CS - Cerulo.
Pittsburgh IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kuss, Andrew L,2-2........ 6.0 12 4 4 3 2 0 0 1 0 24 28 5 5
Rutgers IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
EGBERT, Jack W,5-1........ 7.0 3 0 0 1 6 0 0 1 0 21 24 5 8
HBP - by Kuss (Gaynor); by Egbert (Parise). PB - Rybczak.
Strikeouts - Hiser; Cashman; Spamer 2; Scanzano 2; Badger; Grover. Walks - Hiser;
Badger; Frazier 2.
Umpires -
Start: 12:00 pm Time: 1:22 Attendance: 250
** 2004 RUTGERS BASEBALL **
Pittsburgh at Rutgers
Apr 08, 2004 at Piscataway, NJ (Class of '53 Complex)
Pittsburgh 5 (17-8,5-3) Rutgers 8 (14-13,6-2)
Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI
--------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------
Copeland, Ben cf........... 4 1 0 0 BADGER, Graig 2b........... 4 3 2 0
Parise, Peter rf........... 5 1 1 0 GROSE, Jeff lf............. 4 2 2 0
Hiser, PJ dh............... 4 2 1 2 FRAZIER, Jeff rf........... 2 1 0 0
Negrych, Jim 2b............ 2 1 0 0 CANUSO, Rich 1b............ 4 0 3 4
Spamer, Bryan ss........... 3 0 3 2 GAYNOR, Colin c............ 5 0 2 3
Cashman, Tom 1b............ 4 0 0 0 DEFENDIS, Johnny dh........ 4 0 0 0
Scanzano, Mike 3b.......... 4 0 2 1 RODRIGUEZ, Cory 3b......... 5 0 0 0
Rybczak, Alex c............ 4 0 0 0 QUERNS, Tim 3b............ 0 0 0 0
Marciante, Tony lf......... 4 0 0 0 CERULO, Nick cf............ 4 0 1 0
Gornati, TJ p.............. 0 0 0 0 GROVER, Jason ss........... 4 2 1 0
Luckette, Adam p.......... 0 0 0 0 PARKER, Shaun p............ 0 0 0 0
Hay, John p............... 0 0 0 0 MALAFRONTE, Tom p......... 0 0 0 0
Friedman, Eli p........... 0 0 0 0
Totals..................... 34 5 7 5 Totals..................... 36 8 11 7
Score by Innings R H E
-------------------------------------------
Pittsburgh.......... 202 000 010 - 5 7 2
Rutgers............. 220 103 00X - 8 11 0
-------------------------------------------
E - Spamer; Scanzano. LOB - PITT 7; Rutgers 11. 2B - Gaynor(5). HR - Hiser. SB -
Copeland.
Pittsburgh IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gornati, TJ L,1-3......... 5.1 7 6 5 4 5 0 0 0 1 24 28 6 4
Luckette, Adam ............ 0.0 3 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 3 5 0 0
Hay, John ................. 1.2 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 6 7 4 0
Friedman, Eli ............. 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 3 3 2 0
Rutgers IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
PARKER, Shaun W,3-2....... 7.1 6 5 5 5 7 0 0 0 0 28 33 13 2
MALAFRONTE, Tom S,3....... 1.2 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 6 6 2 2
Strikeouts - Copeland 2; Parise 2; Hiser; Negrych; Scanzano; Rybczak; Grose; Gaynor;
Defendis 2; Rodriguez 2; Cerulo. Walks - Copeland; Hiser; Negrych 2; Spamer; Badger;
Grose; Frazier 3; Canuso; Defendis.
Umpires -
Start: 1:50 Time: 2:30 Attendance: 100
