Rutgers Baseball Opens 2005 With Series at William & Mary
Feb 17 | Baseball
PISCATAWAY, NJ – With six position starters back and a revamped pitching rotation, the Rutgers baseball team will open its 2005 baseball season on Friday afternoon with the first of three games at William & Mary’s Plumeri Park in Williamsburg, VA. Fifth-year senior Tom Malafronte (Somerville, NJ) will start the season opener for the Scarlet Knights.
Rutgers, which finished 30-23 and missed the playoffs for the first time in 18 years last season, returns key seniors Colin Gaynor (Toms River, NJ) and Rich Canuso (Monroe, NJ) to the starting lineup after strong offensive seasons in 2004. Gaynor (.325, 3 HR) and Canuso (.354, 9 HR) are the top returning offensive threats, but will be supported by junior outfielders Johnny Defendis (Staten Island, NY) and Jeff Grose (Iselin, NJ). The juniors, who spent last summer as teammates with Chatham in the Cape Cod League, will be a vital part of the offense. Defendis battled through injuries to hit .290 last season while Grose batted .333 from the No. 2 spot in the order. Seasoned veterans Jason Grover (Montgomery, NJ) and Corey Rodriguez (Bridgewater, NJ) will start at short and second, respectively, while freshman Todd Frazier (Toms River, NJ), the younger brother of All-American Jeff Frazier, will round out the infield at third base. Sophomore David Williams (Franklin, NJ) will replace Frazier in right field and junior and junior Steve Hook (Langhorne, PA) will start at first base.
Junior lefty Matt Pustay (Hamilton, NJ) and senior righty Aaron Kalb (Middletown, NJ) will round out the weekend rotation. R-freshman Tim Woodhull (Princeton Junction, NJ) will serve as the team’s closer. Malafronte was the team’s closer in 2004, saving five games, while Pustay and Kalb worked both in relief and in starting roles during their careers.
Rutgers suffered a big loss during the preseason when shortstop Mike Bionde (Pompton Plains, NJ) re-injured his surgically repaired shoulder and will miss the 2005 season after playing in all but two games in 2004. He joins sophomore hurlers Chris Rini (Flemington, NJ) and Steve Healing (Brick, NJ) on the sidelines this season. In addition, Erik Dial (Basking Ridge, NJ) suffered an arm injury in the fall which ended his career prematurely.
“We’ve got some good players coming back, although all four guys who were injured would have played a big part in our season” said head coach Fred Hill, now in his 22nd season. “We should be able to score some runs and we’ll rely on our pitching to keep us in the games.”
William & Mary (3-0) swept two games from Georgetown last weekend and knocked off Norfolk State, 12-2, on Tuesday to open the 2005 season. The Tribe is hitting .359 as a team, led by All-American outfielder Chris Rahl (.714 – 10-for-14 – 1 HR, 7 RBI) and Mike Decarlo (.514, 3 HR, 7 RBI). W&M is averaging over 12 hits per game thus far and scoring just shy of 15 runs per contest. It pitching staff owns a 3.67 ERA, allowing just 25 hits in 27 innings.
“We always have competitive series with William & Mary,” said Hill. “Friday’s game will be our first time on a field since the fall, so we’ll see what happens.”
Last season, Rutgers slugged its way to an 18-12 win to open the season at William & Mary before the Tribe won the next two games, 11-4 and 13-11. Canuso was 3-for-6 with a home run, double and five RBI in last season’s opener.
