MORGANTOWN, WV – Rutgers jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second inning, but was shut down the rest of the way by WVU freshman Ryan Hill as the Mountaineers rallied for a 6-4 win this afternoon in the series finale at Hawley Field. Hill, who entered the game with a 7.02 ERA, shut down the Scarlet Knights for 7.1 innings, while wild pitches and a trio of costly errors doomed the Scarlet Knights. With the loss, RU is now 17-11 overall and 6-3 in BIG EAST play, while WVU improves to 14-19, 3-6 BE.
Rutgers used a two-out rally to build its 4-0 lead in the second, as Tim Querns (Cherry Hill, NJ) and Todd Frazier (Toms River, NJ) delivered RBI singles and bases-loaded walks to Colin Gaynor (Toms River, NJ) and Steve Hook (Langhorne, PA) forced in the final two runs. During the inning, WVU head coach Greg Van Zandt was ejected from the game for arguing balls and strikes on behalf of his freshman hurlers, Matt Yurish and Hill, who combined to walk four-straight hitters with two outs.
WVU cut the lead in half in the third, using a two-out, two-run home run from Stan Posluszny to pull within two, 4-2, and added single runs in the fifth and sixth to tie the game at 4-4. A walk and three wild pitches cut the lead to 4-3, while an error by Cory Rodriguez (Bridgewater, NJ), a sacrifice bunt and Doug Nelms’ RBI single knotted the game in the bottom of the sixth.
Justin Jenkins opened the WVU half of the seventh with a double against RU reliever Jim Jansen (Hillsdale, NJ) and moved to third on a bunt. The next hitter, Casey Bowling, hit a comebacker to Jansen and Jenkins was caught between third and home, but Jansen’s throw short-hopped Querns at third, allowing Jenkins to score the go-ahead run. WVU then greeted Matt Pustay (Hamilton, NJ) with singles on the first two pitches thrown, but Jeff Grose (Iselin, NJ) cut down a runner at the plate for his sixth outfield assist of the season. Pustay then issued a walk to load the bases, but Tim Woodhull (Princeton Jct., NJ) avoided further damage by inducing a soft liner for the final out. A Lee Fritz sac fly an inning later, set up by a Woodhull throwing error, gave WVU an insurance run.
Frazier and Gaynor singled in the ninth to put the tying run on base, but Hill bounced back with a foul-out from Hook and fly-out from Defendis, the late-inning hero vs. Notre Dame last Monday, to hold on for his second win of the season.
Jansen (1-1) took the loss, allowing the decisive run in the seventh. RU starter Steve Holt (Toms River, NJ) allowed four runs (three earned) in six innings of work, striking out five. He also issued six wild pitches. RU banged out nine hits, two each from its 8-9 hitters, Jon Gossard (Harrington Park, NJ) and Querns, as well as Frazier.
RU is back in action on Wednesday, when it hosts Columbia at 3:00 p.m. at the Class of ’53 Baseball Complex.
The Automated ScoreBook
Rutgers at West Virginia
Apr 10, 2005 at Morgantown, WV (Hawley Field)
Rutgers 4 (17-11,6-3 BIG EAST)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
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FRAZIER, Todd ss......... 5 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 0
GROSE, Jeff lf........... 3 0 0 0 2 0 3 1 0
GAYNOR, Colin dh......... 3 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 3
CANUSO, Rich 1b.......... 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
HOOK, Steve 1b.......... 3 0 1 1 1 1 3 2 0
DEFENDIS, Johnny cf...... 4 0 0 0 1 0 3 0 5
RODRIGUEZ, Cory 2b....... 4 1 1 0 0 1 2 1 0
HILL, Ryan rf............ 4 1 0 0 0 2 2 0 0
GOSSARD, Jon c........... 4 0 2 0 0 1 7 0 0
QUERNS, Tim 3b........... 4 1 2 1 0 0 2 2 0
HOLT, Steve p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0
JANSEN, Jim p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
PUSTAY, Matt p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
WOODHULL, Tim p......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals................... 35 4 9 4 6 5 24 6 10
West Virginia 6 (14-19,4-6 BIG EAST)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
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Kuhn 2b.................. 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 3
Jenkins 3b............... 4 3 3 0 1 1 1 6 0
Fritz cf................. 3 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0
McKown rf................ 3 0 0 0 0 3 1 0 0
Bowling ph/lf........... 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Posluszny lf/rf.......... 3 1 2 2 1 0 2 0 0
Matuszek dh.............. 4 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 3
Ridgley 1b............... 2 0 0 0 1 0 11 1 0
Nelms ss................. 4 0 1 1 0 1 2 0 3
Carpenter c.............. 3 1 2 0 1 0 6 1 0
Yurish p................. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Hill p.................. 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0
Totals................... 32 6 10 4 4 6 27 13 10
Score by Innings R H E
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Rutgers............. 040 000 000 - 4 9 3
West Virginia....... 002 011 11X - 6 10 1
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E - C Rodriguez(5); J. Jansen(1); T. Woodhull(1); Nelms. DP - WVU 1. LOB -
Rutgers 10; WVU 10. 2B - J. Gossard; Jenkins; Carpenter. HR - Posluszny. SH
- Kuhn; Fritz; Ridgley. SF - Fritz. SB - Kuhn.
Rutgers IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
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HOLT, Steve......... 6.0 6 4 3 3 5 24 28
JANSEN, Jim......... 0.1 1 1 0 0 0 2 3
PUSTAY, Matt........ 0.1 2 0 0 1 0 2 3
WOODHULL, Tim....... 1.1 1 1 0 0 1 4 6
West Virginia IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
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Yurish.............. 1.2 3 4 4 4 1 8 12
Hill................ 7.1 6 0 0 2 4 27 29
Win - Hill (2-1). Loss - J. Jansen (1-1). Save - None.
WP - S. Holt 6(8). BK - Yurish.
Umpires - HP: P. Lancaster 1B: T. Gisondi 3B: R. Manez
Start: 12:00 pm Time: 2:34 Attendance: 250
Game: WVU-3
