BLACKSBURG, VA – Junior catcher Colin Gaynor (Toms River,
NJ) blasted a three-run double and sophomore OJ DeChristofano (Pequannock,
NJ) returned from injury to pitch 1.2 shutout innings for his first save as
Rutgers outlasted Virginia Tech, 11-10, in game two, salvaging a split of today’s
BIG EAST doubleheader in Blacksburg, VA. Junior Jeff Frazier (Toms River, NJ)
snapped a 5-5 tie in the seventh with a two-run home run, his 10th of the season
and the 31st of his career, finishing the doubleheader 6-for-8 with a HR and
double. With the split, RU is now 24-16 overall and 12-5 in BIG EAST play.
With the score tied at 5-5 in game two, Rutgers seemingly took control in
the top of the seventh, as Grose reached on a leadoff walk and scored when
Frazier drove a two-run homer through the wind in left field, his 10th of the
season, for a 7-5 lead against VT reliever Brett Cory. A Toregas sacrifice
fly in the bottom of the seventh cut the lead to 7-6.
In the eighth, Graig Badger (Union, NJ) reached on a costly two-out error,
which preceded a pair of singles from Grose and Frazier and a bases-loaded
walk to Rich Canuso (Monroe, NJ) pushing RU’s lead to 8-5. Gaynor then
ripped a double to left-center, scoring all three runners for an 11-5 lead.
In the bottom of the inning, RU reliever Matt Pustay’s (Hamilton, NJ)
throwing error on a potential double-play ball opened the door for Virginia
Tech, which scored four times against Pustay and Tom Malafronte (Somerville,
NJ) to close within one, 11-10. With the bases loaded and one out, RU head
coach Fred Hill called for DeChristofano, who induced a pair of popups and
then escaped a one-out walk in the ninth for the save.
VT took a 2-0 lead in the first inning of the nightcap, highlighted by Tom
Blaszak’s leadoff triple, but RU tied the game at 2-2 in the top of the
second when Nick Cerulo (Woodbridge, NJ) tripled home Defendis (leadoff single)
and scored on an infield groundout.
Trailing 3-2 in the top of the sixth, Gaynor and Johnny Defendis (Staten Island,
NY) led off with back-to-back singles and Cerulo reached base when his sacrifice
bunt was mishandled. A wild pitch allowed Gaynor to score the tying run and
Tim Querns (Cherry Hill, NJ) delivered the go-ahead run with a groundout deep
into the hole at shortstop. With Cerulo on third and one out, Jason Grover
(Montgomery, NJ) dropped down a perfect suicide squeeze, increasing RU’s
lead to 5-3.
VT came right back in the bottom of the inning, using a pair of leadoff singles
and a two-out, two-run double from Schaeffer to tie the game at 5-5 and send
RU starter Aaron Kalb (Middletown, NJ) to the bench.
In the opener, Rutgers took a 2-0 lead on a two-out rally in the third, as
Grose tripled to right field, scoring Badger with the first run. Two pitches
later, Grose scored on a passed ball by VT’s Wyatt Toregas.
RU starter Jack Egbert (Rutherford, NJ) cruised through the first four innings,
allowing just one hit, but was touched for a leadoff single and walk to open
the fifth. Nine-spot hitter Warren Schaeffer failed on his first two bunt attempts
and fell behind Egbert, 1-2, but dropped down a perfect sacrifice with two
strikes to advance both runners into scoring position. The bunt became arguably
the biggest play of the inning, as three of the next four Hokie hitters delivered
RBI singles and a throwing error by Gaynor allowed the fourth and final run
of the inning to score.
Rutgers cut the lead to 4-3 in the top of the sixth on Gaynor’s leadoff
triple and a double from Defendis, but VT reclaimed its two-run lead on Schaeffer’s
two-out single in the sixth, ending Egbert’s day. Badger led off the
top of the seventh with a single, but was stranded at second base as VT reliever
Nicky Bowers picked up the save.
Egbert (5.2 IP, 6 H, 5 R) took the loss, his second in a row, and fell to
6-3 this season. Frazier led RU with two hits.
Kalb (6 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 3 K) earned a no-decision in the second game,
while Erik Dial (Basking Ridge, NJ) earned the win, improving to 2-4. Frazier
(4-for-5, HR, 2 RBI) and Gaynor (2-for-4, 3 RBI) led the offense.
The two teams will complete their three-game series on Sunday at noon.
** 2004 RUTGERS BASEBALL **
Rutgers at Virginia Tech
May 01, 2004 at Blacksburg, VA (English Field)
Rutgers 3 (23-16,11-5 BE) Virginia Tech 5 (24-18,10-8 BE)
Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI
--------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------
BADGER, Graig 2b........... 3 1 2 0 T. Blaszak 2b.............. 3 1 2 1
GROSE, Jeff lf............. 4 1 2 1 C. Stanton 3b.............. 2 1 1 1
FRAZIER, Jeff rf........... 3 0 2 0 S. O'Brien 1b.............. 3 0 0 0
CANUSO, Rich 1b............ 4 0 0 0 W. Toregas c............... 2 0 1 1
GAYNOR, Colin c............ 3 1 1 0 J. English dh.............. 3 0 1 0
DEFENDIS, Johnny dh........ 3 0 1 1 S. Adams cf................ 3 1 1 0
CERULO, Nick cf............ 2 0 0 0 M. Foley lf................ 3 1 1 0
QUERNS, Tim 3b............. 3 0 1 0 M. Kalish rf............... 2 1 0 0
GROVER, Jason ss........... 3 0 0 0 W. Schaeffer ss............ 2 0 1 1
EGBERT, Jack p............. 0 0 0 0 J. Biber p................. 0 0 0 0
MALAFRONTE, Tom p......... 0 0 0 0 N. Bowers p............... 0 0 0 0
Totals..................... 28 3 9 2 Totals..................... 23 5 8 4
Score by Innings R H E
-----------------------------------------
Rutgers............. 002 001 0 - 3 9 1
Virginia Tech....... 000 041 X - 5 8 2
-----------------------------------------
E - Gaynor; T. Blaszak; W. Toregas. DP - VTech 1. LOB - Rutgers 7; VTech 4. 2B -
Defendis; J. English. 3B - Grose; Gaynor. HBP - Badger. SH - Cerulo; W. Schaeffer.
SB - Badger; T. Blaszak; C. Stanton 3; W. Toregas; S. Adams.
Rutgers IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
EGBERT, Jack L,6-3........ 5.2 8 5 5 3 3 0 0 0 0 23 27 6 7
MALAFRONTE, Tom ........... 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Virginia Tech IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
J. Biber W,4-0............ 5.0 8 3 2 1 4 0 0 1 0 22 24 3 7
N. Bowers S............... 2.0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 6 7 2 2
HBP - by J. Biber (Badger). PB - W. Toregas.
Strikeouts - Frazier; Canuso; Gaynor; Cerulo; Querns; Grover; J. English 2; M.
Kalish. Walks - Frazier; C. Stanton; W. Toregas; M. Kalish.
Umpires -
Start: 4:00 pm Time: 1:52 Attendance: 500
J. Biber faced 2 batters in the 6th.
** 2004 RUTGERS BASEBALL **
Rutgers at Virginia Tech
May 01, 2004 at Blacksburg, VA (English Field)
Rutgers 11 (24-16,12-5 BE) Virginia Tech 10 (24-19,10-9 BE)
Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI
--------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------
BADGER, Graig 2b........... 6 1 0 0 T. Blaszak 2b.............. 6 2 2 1
GROSE, Jeff lf............. 3 2 1 0 C. Stanton 3b.............. 3 3 2 0
FRAZIER, Jeff rf........... 5 2 4 2 S. O'Brien 1b.............. 4 0 0 1
CANUSO, Rich 1b............ 4 1 2 1 W. Toregas c............... 4 0 1 3
GAYNOR, Colin c............ 4 1 2 3 J. English dh.............. 4 1 2 2
DEFENDIS, Johnny dh........ 5 2 2 0 S. Adams cf................ 5 2 3 0
CERULO, Nick cf............ 3 2 1 1 M. Foley lf................ 5 0 0 0
QUERNS, Tim 3b............. 5 0 1 1 M. Kalish rf............... 3 1 0 0
GROVER, Jason ss........... 4 0 1 2 N. Parks pr............... 0 0 0 0
KALB, Aaron p.............. 0 0 0 0 W. Schaeffer ss............ 4 1 2 3
DIAL, Erik p.............. 0 0 0 0 J. Landing p............... 0 0 0 0
PUSTAY, Matt p............ 0 0 0 0 B. Cory p................. 0 0 0 0
MALAFRONTE, Tom p......... 0 0 0 0 A. Redd p................. 0 0 0 0
DECHRISTOFANO, OJ p....... 0 0 0 0 N. Bowers p............... 0 0 0 0
Totals..................... 39 11 14 10 Totals..................... 38 10 12 10
Score by Innings R H E
-------------------------------------------
Rutgers............. 020 003 240 - 11 14 3
Virginia Tech....... 201 002 140 - 10 12 2
-------------------------------------------
E - Canuso; Grover; Pustay; T. Blaszak 2. LOB - Rutgers 8; VTech 9. 2B - Frazier;
Gaynor; Grover; W. Schaeffer. 3B - Cerulo; T. Blaszak. HR - Frazier(10). HBP - C.
Stanton. SH - Gaynor; Cerulo; Grover. SF - W. Toregas; J. English. SB - Grose; C.
Stanton 3; N. Parks. CS - Canuso.
Rutgers IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
KALB, Aaron ............... 5.2 7 5 5 4 3 0 0 0 0 22 27 3 9
DIAL, Erik W,2-4.......... 0.1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 1
PUSTAY, Matt .............. 1.1 2 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 7 3 1
MALAFRONTE, Tom ........... 0.0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 4 0 0
DECHRISTOFANO, OJ S,1..... 1.2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 5 6 5 0
Virginia Tech IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
J. Landing ................ 6.0 8 5 4 1 0 2 0 0 0 25 28 5 13
B. Cory L,3-3............. 0.0 2 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 0 0
A. Redd ................... 1.2 1 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 5 7 0 3
N. Bowers ................. 1.1 3 2 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 7 8 1 1
WP - J. Landing 2. HBP - by Malafronte (C. Stanton).
Strikeouts - Defendis; Cerulo; Grover; S. O'Brien 2; S. Adams. Walks - Grose 2;
Canuso; Cerulo; C. Stanton; S. O'Brien; M. Kalish 2; W. Schaeffer.
Umpires -
Start: 6:26 pm Time: 3:24 Attendance: 500
B. Cory faced 3 batters in the 7th.
Dial faced 1 batter in the 7th.
Malafronte faced 4 batters in the 8th.
