NEW YORK, NY - Sophomore Todd Frazier (Toms River, NJ) went 4-for-5, including three doubles, driving in six runs to lead a hot-hitting Rutgers baseball team to a 17-4 victory over Columbia Tuesday at Andy Coakley Field in New York City.
The Scarlet Knights, who collected 16 hits on the afternoon, extended their winning streak to six games and evened their overall record at 14-14-1 on the season. The Lions fell to 7-24 with the loss.
The Scarlet Knights jumped out to an early lead with a four-run first inning. Jeff Grose (Islen, NJ) led off with a double and Frazier brought him home with a single. Sophomore Ryan Hill (Hillsdale, NJ) then scored Frazier on a single and a fielding error in right field. Senior Steve Hook (Langhorne, PA) capped the scoring in the inning with a two-run home run to center field – his fourth of the season.
Columbia countered with three runs in the bottom-half of the inning to cut the lead to 4-3.
After scoreless second and third frames, RU built its lead to 6-3 with two runs in the fourth. With runners on the corners and two outs, Frazier ripped his second double of the game to center field to bring home both runners.
The Lions got a pair of doubles by Dan Neczypor and Ron Williams to lead off the fourth inning and score their fourth run of the contest.
The Scarlet Knights’ offense tacked on a seventh run in the sixth inning as Mike Bionde (Pompton Plains, NJ) laid down a bunt for a leadoff single and came around to score without the benefit of a hit, moving to second on a sacrifice, advancing to third on a passed ball and scoring on a wild pitch. Bionde finished the day 4-for-4 with three runs and two RBI.
Rutgers then unloaded on the Lions with 10 runs over the final two innings, including a seven-run ninth inning. Designated hitter Vic Cegles (Phoenix, AZ) drew a bases-loaded walk to plate the first run of the eighth inning, before Frazier drove in two runs on his third double of the game.
Another bases-loaded walk, this time issued to Frank Meade (Linden, NJ), brought home the first run of the ninth. Bionde then delivered a single up the middle to plate two more runs. Rutgers loaded the bases once again in the inning, and pinch hitter Tom Edwards (West Caldwell, NJ) greeted Columbia’s second pitcher of the inning with an RBI single through the right side. Frazier brought home his sixth run of the game with the Scarlet Knights’ third bases-loaded walk of the contest. With five runs already across, Columbia finally registered their first out of the inning. A pair of sacrifice flies off the bat of Hill and Nick Stavrakis (Warren, NJ) brought home the final two runs of the inning as the Scarlet Knights batted around in the frame.
With the 17-4 advantage senior Jim Jansen (Hillsdale, NJ) worked a scoreless ninth inning for RU with a strikeout to end the game.
Junior Steve Healing (Brick, NJ) pitched the first four innings for Rutgers, allowing all four runs on four hits with four strikeouts. Freshman Matt Giannini (Watchung, NJ) got his first victory of the season with four innings of scoreless middle relief, registering a pair of strikeouts.
Columbia’s Nick Oleksak was tagged with the loss, surrendering six runs on nine hits with five strikeouts in five innings. The Lions used four pitchers in the contest.
The 17 runs is the most since the Scarlet Knights defeated Monmouth, 21-2, nearly a year ago to the day on April 12 of last season.
Frazier and Bionde joined Hook with multiple hits on the afternoon, as the senior first baseman was 3-for-4 from the plate with two RBI and a run.
Rutgers travels to Cincinnati, OH, for a three-game series with the University of Cincinnati, beginning on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
2006 Rutgers Baseball
Rutgers University at Columbia University
Apr 11, 2006 at New York, N.Y. (Andy Coakley Field)
Rutgers University 17 (14-14-1)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
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GROSE, Jeff cf........... 4 3 1 0 0 0 2 0 0
CALLAHAN, Donny ph/cf... 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0
CEGLES, Victor dh........ 3 1 1 1 2 1 0 0 1
EDWARDS, Tom ph......... 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
FRAZIER, Todd ss......... 5 1 4 6 1 0 0 1 0
HILL, Ryan lf............ 5 1 1 2 0 0 1 0 2
HOOK, Steve 1b........... 4 1 3 2 0 1 7 0 0
STAVRAKIS, Nick ph/1b... 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
FELIZ, Luis rf........... 4 0 0 0 0 2 4 0 0
LIVINGSTON, Mike ph/rf.. 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
QUERNS, Tim 3b........... 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 2
SANGEMINO, Vincent ph/3b 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0
DOWNEY, Jason c.......... 3 0 0 0 0 1 6 0 1
MEADE, Frank ph/c....... 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0
BIONDE, Mike 2b.......... 4 3 4 2 1 0 4 3 0
HEALING, Steve p......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
GIANNINI, Matt p........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
JANSEN, Jim p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals................... 38 17 16 16 8 5 27 8 7
Columbia University 4 (7-24)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
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Cooper, Noah cf.......... 4 1 3 0 0 0 5 0 0
Mizzoni, Joey ph........ 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
Perkins, Henry 2b........ 4 0 1 0 0 0 2 2 0
Stevens, Thomas ph...... 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Rodwogin, Craig ss....... 3 1 0 0 1 0 4 1 4
Tasman, Jon ph.......... 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1
Neczypor, Dan lf......... 4 2 2 2 0 0 1 0 0
Williams, Ron 1b......... 3 0 1 2 1 0 3 3 0
Malfettone, Mike rf...... 4 0 0 0 0 1 2 1 0
DeFazio, Michael c....... 3 0 0 0 1 1 8 0 0
Summerhays, Jake dh...... 4 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 3
Silverstein, Spencer 3b.. 4 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0
Oleksak, Nick p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Walther, Andrew p....... 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0
Lewis, Alex p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Roberts, Mike p......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals................... 35 4 8 4 4 7 27 10 8
Score by Innings R H E
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Rutgers University.. 400 201 037 - 17 16 1
Columbia University. 300 100 000 - 4 8 2
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E - HILL, R.(2); Malfettone(3); Silverstein(9). DP - Lions 1. LOB - Scar.
Knight 7; Lions 8. 2B - GROSE(5); FRAZIER 3(11); Cooper(3); Neczypor(3);
Williams(6). 3B - STAVRAKIS(1); Neczypor(1). HR - HOOK(4). HBP - QUERNS 2.
SH - GROSE(7). SF - HILL, R.(2); STAVRAKIS(1). SB - BIONDE(2). CS - HOOK(3).
Rutgers University IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
HEALING, Steve...... 4.0 4 4 4 1 4 16 17
GIANNINI, Matt...... 4.0 4 0 0 2 2 16 18
JANSEN, Jim......... 1.0 0 0 0 1 1 3 4
Columbia University IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
Oleksak, Nick....... 5.0 9 6 6 1 5 24 26
Walther, Andrew..... 3.0 4 4 2 2 0 10 14
Lewis, Alex......... 0.0 2 6 6 4 0 2 6
Roberts, Mike....... 1.0 1 1 1 1 0 2 5
Win - GIANNINI (1-4). Loss - Oleksak (1-2). Save - None.
WP - HEALING(1); GIANNINI(7); Walther(7). HBP - by Oleksak (QUERNS); by Walther
(QUERNS). PB - DeFazio(5).
Umpires -
Start: 3 p.m. Time: 3:22 Attendance: 78
Lewis faced 6 batters in the 9th.
Game: 411COL
