PITTSBURGH, PA – Sophomore Steve Holt (Toms River, NJ), making his second career start, took a no-hitter in the seventh inning of today’s second game, en route to a 7-1 win as Rutgers swept a road, BIG EAST doubleheader from Pittsburgh at Trees Field. In the opener, RU rallied from a 3-1 deficit to capture a 5-3 win behind the starting effort of junior OJ DeChristofano (Pequannock, NJ). Rutgers, with the sweep, is now 3-1 in BIG EAST play and 12-8 overall. RU has also won five in a row and is 20-5 all-time vs. Pittsburgh (11-8, 1-3 BE).
Four walks were the only blemishes on Holt’s pitching chart through the first six innings of the second game, as he set down the side in the third, fifth and sixth innings before coughing up a leadoff home run to open the seventh that ruined the no-hit bid and shutout in one swing. He worked into the eighth, but a leadoff double and pop-out ended his effort, as he gave way to Matt Pustay (Hamilton, NJ), who retired all five hitters he faced to polish off the sweep.
Todd Frazier (Toms River, NJ) walked to open the second game and scored on Colin Gaynor’s (Toms River, NJ) sacrifice fly for a 1-0 lead as the score remained that way into the sixth, when RU tacked on three runs to give Holt some welcomed breathing room. David Williams (Franklin, NJ) and Jon Gossard (Harrington Park, NJ) led off the inning with a walk and single and, after a sacrifice, scored on a three-run blast from Frazier, his team-leading sixth home run of the season. A solo home run leading off the eighth from Cory Rodriguez (Bridgewater, NJ) pushed the lead to 5-1, while a Williams double and a sacrifice fly from Jason Grover (Montgomery, NJ) later in the inning increased it to 6-1.
Holt (7.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 4 BB, 5 K) improved to 2-0, while Jeff Grose (Iselin, NJ) led RU’s 11-hit attack with a 3-for-4 effort.
In the opener, Pittsburgh built a 3-1 lead through four innings against DeChristofano, scoring single runs in the first, third and fourth innings, but the Scarlet Knights bounced back with three runs in the sixth and another in the seventh to pull away for the win. Grover started the sixth-inning rally with a one-out walk and, following a Frazier strikeout, Grose singled down the line in left to put the tying run on base. Gaynor followed with a two-run double to left and scored when Rich Canuso (Monroe, NJ) punched a single to center, giving RU a 4-3 lead. Back-to-back walks and a sacrifice bunt preceded a sacrifice fly from Frazier in the seventh to finish off the scoring.
DeChristofano (3-1) went the distance, allowing seven hits and two earned runs in 7.0 innings of work. He got stronger as the game progressed, retiring 10 of the final 11 hitters he faced. Grose (2-for-4), Canuso (2-for-2) and Rodriguez (2-for-3) led the offensive effort.
The Automated ScoreBook
Rutgers at PITTSBURGH
Mar 26, 2005 at Pittsburgh (Trees Field)
Rutgers 5 (11-8,2-1)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
FRAZIER, Todd ss......... 3 0 0 1 1 1 1 2 3
GROSE, Jeff lf........... 4 2 2 0 1 0 1 0 2
GAYNOR, Colin c.......... 3 1 1 2 0 0 5 0 0
GOSSARD, Jon c.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0
CANUSO, Rich 1b.......... 2 0 2 1 2 0 6 1 0
DEFENDIS, Johnny cf...... 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3
RODRIGUEZ, Cory 2b....... 3 1 2 0 1 1 2 3 0
HOOK, Steve dh........... 3 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 3
WILLIAMS, Dave rf........ 3 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0
GROVER, Jason 3b......... 1 1 0 0 2 1 0 1 0
HILL, Ryan 3b........... 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
QUERNS, Tim 3b.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
DECHRISTOFANO, OJ p...... 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0
Totals................... 26 5 9 4 9 4 21 8 12
PITTSBURGH 3 (11-7,1-2)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
COPELAND cf.............. 4 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 2
PARISE rf................ 3 1 0 0 1 1 2 1 0
NEGRYCH 2b............... 3 0 2 1 0 0 3 0 0
FORD 1b.................. 2 0 0 1 0 0 5 0 0
MULDOWNEY dh............. 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
CLINE dh................ 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
STEVENS c................ 3 0 0 0 0 2 5 0 0
CONLEY lf................ 3 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0
WILLIAMS ss.............. 3 0 1 1 0 1 0 3 1
MEGALE 3b................ 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 2 1
SUCRE ph................ 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
KUSS p................... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
BUTLER p................ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals................... 26 3 7 3 1 7 21 8 5
Score by Innings R H E
-----------------------------------------
Rutgers............. 001 003 1 - 5 9 1
PITTSBURGH.......... 101 100 0 - 3 7 0
-----------------------------------------
E - R. Canuso. LOB - Rutgers 12; PITT 5. 2B - C. Gaynor; NEGRYCH 2. HBP -
MEGALE. SH - C. Gaynor; D. Williams. SF - T. Frazier; FORD. SB - T. Frazier;
CLINE 2.
Rutgers IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
DECHRISTOFANO, OJ... 7.0 7 3 2 1 7 26 29
PITTSBURGH IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
KUSS................ 4.0 5 1 1 4 2 15 20
BUTLER.............. 3.0 4 4 4 5 2 11 18
Win - DECHRISTOFNO (3-1). Loss - BUTLER (1-2). Save - None.
WP - DECHRISTOFNO. HBP - by DECHRISTOFNO (MEGALE). BK - KUSS.
Umpires -
Start: 12:00 PM Time: 2:15 Attendance: 75
Game: PITT-RU1
The Automated ScoreBook
Rutgers at PITTSBURGH
Mar 26, 2005 at Pittsburgh (Trees Field)
Rutgers 7 (12-8,3-1)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
FRAZIER, Todd ss......... 4 2 1 2 1 0 1 3 0
GROSE, Jeff lf........... 4 1 3 0 1 0 1 0 0
GAYNOR, Colin dh......... 3 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0
CANUSO, Rich 1b.......... 5 0 2 0 0 2 10 0 1
DEFENDIS, Johnny cf...... 5 0 1 0 0 2 2 0 3
RODRIGUEZ, Cory 2b....... 5 1 2 1 0 0 3 6 0
WILLIAMS, Dave rf........ 4 2 1 0 1 0 5 0 2
GOSSARD, Jon c........... 3 1 1 0 0 1 4 1 0
GROVER, Jason 3b......... 2 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 3
HOLT, Steve p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
PUSTAY, Matt p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals................... 35 7 11 7 3 5 27 10 9
PITTSBURGH 1 (11-8,1-3)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
COPELAND cf.............. 4 0 1 0 0 1 5 0 0
PARISE rf................ 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0
NEGRYCH 2b............... 3 0 0 0 1 1 3 3 0
FORD 1b.................. 2 0 0 0 2 0 6 0 1
MULDOWNEY dh............. 4 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 2
STEVENS c................ 3 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 0
CONLEY lf................ 3 0 0 0 1 0 3 0 1
WILLIAMS ss.............. 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0
MEGALE 3b................ 3 0 0 0 0 1 2 1 2
RHOTEN p................. 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
FRIEDMAN p.............. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
BASSAGE p............... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals................... 29 1 2 1 4 5 27 5 6
Score by Innings R H E
-------------------------------------------
Rutgers............. 100 003 021 - 7 11 1
PITTSBURGH.......... 000 000 100 - 1 2 3
-------------------------------------------
E - S. Holt; STEVENS; WILLIAMS 2. LOB - Rutgers 9; PITT 6. 2B - J. Grose; D.
Williams; COPELAND. HR - T. Frazier; C Rodriguez; MULDOWNEY. HBP - STEVENS.
SH - J. Gossard; J. Grover. SF - C. Gaynor 2; J. Grover. SB - J. Grose;
CONLEY.
Rutgers IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
HOLT, Steve......... 7.1 2 1 1 4 5 24 29
PUSTAY, Matt........ 1.2 0 0 0 0 0 5 5
PITTSBURGH IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
RHOTEN.............. 6.0 7 4 4 2 3 25 29
FRIEDMAN............ 2.0 2 2 2 0 1 6 8
BASSAGE............. 1.0 2 1 1 1 1 4 6
Win - S. Holt (2-0). Loss - RHOTEN (3-1). Save - None.
HBP - by S. Holt (STEVENS). BK - S. Holt.
Umpires -
Start: 2:50 PM Time: 3:15 Attendance: 75
Game: PITT-RU2
