PISCATAWAY, NJ - Junior Steve Hook (Langhorne, PA) hit a three-run home run during a five-run seventh and Cory Rodriguez (Bridgewater, NJ) added a three-run blast during a four-run eighth as Rutgers scored nine times over the final two innings to beat Wagner, 13-3, this afternoon. Senior Tom Malafronte (Somerville, NJ) earned his second win in four days, combining with Jeff Grose (Iselin, NJ) for 4.2 innings of one-hit relief as the Scarlet Knights improved to 25-18 overall with their second win in as many days.

A two-out, two-run single from Jon Gossard (Harrington Park, NJ) extended RU's lead to 3-0 in the fourth, driving home Johnny Defendis (Staten Island, NY) and Cory Rodriguez (Bridgewater, NJ), who had singled to open the inning. Starter Sean Spicer (Pearl River, NY) worked in and out of trouble through the first four innings, but gave up hits to four of the first five batters in the fifth, including Sean Furgeson's two-run single, which tied the game at 3-3. Malafronte recorded the final two outs in the fifth and then fired blanks in the sixth and seventh, as RU mounted its late-game rally.

In the bottom of the fifth, Rutgers quickly snapped the 3-3 tie when Ryan Hill (Hillsdale, NJ) blooped a double to left-center, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on Defendis' sacrifice fly for a 4-3 lead. After a scoreless sixth, RU put the game out of reach in the seventh inning.

Todd Frazier (Toms River, NJ) singled to left to open the inning and advanced to second on Hill's walk, his second of the game. A sacrifice moved both runners into scoring position and Defendis knocked in Frazier with a single to center. A single from Rodriguez pushed across the second run, while Hook homered deep to right-center, his second in as many days, to complete the scoring two batters later.

In the eighth, Hill walked with one out, Colin Gaynor (Toms River, NJ) was hit by a pitch and Defendis walked to load the bases for Rodriguez. A passed ball allowed Hill to score and Rodriguez hammered the next pitch over the fence in left for his third HR of the season.

Malafronte (2.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 K) handed the ball to Grose in the eighth and he retired all six hitters he faced to end the game, striking out two in the eighth inning. RU collected 14 hits, led by Rodriguez (4-for-5, 4 RBI), who extended his hitting streak to 17 games with a single in his first at bat. Gossard, Frazier, Hook and Defendis added two hits apiece.

The Scarlet Knights are idle this weekend and return to action next Wednesday, when they hosts Delaware at 3:00 p.m., followed by a 1:00 p.m. game vs. Monmouth on Thursday.

                            The Automated ScoreBook
                                   at Rutgers
              May 04, 2005 at Piscataway, NJ (Class of 53 Complex)

 3 (19-22)

Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
Joseph DiGeronimo ss.....  4  0  2  0   0  0  1  3   0
Joseph Malfettano 2b.....  4  0  0  0   1  0  3  3   3
Troy Sogluizzo dh........  4  1  2  0   0  0  0  0   0
 Dan Morvay ph...........  1  0  0  0   0  1  0  0   0
Matt Mastrianni lf.......  3  1  1  0   1  0  1  0   1
Nick Papa cf.............  4  1  2  1   0  1  3  1   3
Ed Sudol rf..............  4  0  1  0   0  1  3  0   0
Sean Ferguson c..........  4  0  2  2   0  1  6  0   0
Kris Urbano 1b...........  4  0  0  0   0  0  7  1   1
Gene Ronkiewicz 3b.......  3  0  1  0   0  0  0  0   1
 Kane Furst ph/3b........  1  0  0  0   0  1  0  0   0
Joe Testa p..............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  3   0
 Gator Weston p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 36  3 11  3   2  5 24 11   9

Rutgers 13 (25-18)

Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
FRAZIER, Todd ss.........  5  1  2  0   0  0  2  3   2
HILL, Ryan lf............  2  3  1  0   3  1  2  0   0
GAYNOR, Colin 1b.........  2  1  0  0   0  2 11  0   2
DEFENDIS, Johnny cf......  2  4  2  2   2  0  2  0   0
RODRIGUEZ, Cory 2b.......  5  2  4  4   0  0  2  3   0
WILLIAMS, Dave rf........  2  1  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 CALLAHAn, Donny ph/rf...  1  0  0  0   0  1  1  0   0
HOOK, Steve dh...........  3  1  2  4   0  0  0  0   0
 QUERNS, Tim ph/dh.......  1  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
GOSSARD, Jon c...........  4  0  2  2   0  0  6  0   0
GROVER, Jason 3b.........  4  0  1  0   0  1  0  3   2
SPICER, Sean p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  1   0
 MALAFRONTE, Tom p.......  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  3   0
 GROSE, Jeff p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 31 13 14 12   5  5 27 13   6

Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
.................... 000 030 000 -  3 11  0
Rutgers............. 010 210 54X - 13 14  1
-------------------------------------------

E - J. Grover. DP - Rutgers 1. LOB - WAGNER 9; Rutgers 6. 2B - Sogluizzo, T;
R. Hill. 3B - T. Frazier. HR - C Rodriguez(3); S. Hook(7). HBP -
DiGeronimo,; C. Gaynor. SH - C. Gaynor 2; D. Williams 2. SF - J. Defendis;
S. Hook. SB - DiGeronimo,; Papa, Nick; D. Williams.

                       IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
Joe Testa...........  6.1 11  8  8  3  4 23 32
Gator Weston........  1.2  3  5  5  2  1  8 11

Rutgers                IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
SPICER, Sean........  4.1 10  3  3  2  1 23 25
MALAFRONTE, Tom.....  2.2  1  0  0  0  1  7  8
GROSE, Jeff.........  2.0  0  0  0  0  3  6  6

Win - Malafronte (2-3).  Loss - Testa, Joe (1-3).  Save - None.
WP - S. Spicer. HBP - by Malafronte (DiGeronimo,); by Weston, G (C. Gaynor). PB
- Ferguson, S.
Umpires -
Start: 1:00 pm   Time: 2:24   Attendance: 250
Game notes:
ID-328363
Game: WAGNER-1