SOUTH BEND, IN - The Rutgers baseball team pounded out a season-high 20 hits, but came up short in a slugfest to No. 16 Notre Dame, falling to the Irish, 14-12, Sunday afternoon at Frank Eck Stadium
ND (32-8, 14-1 BIG EAST) swept the three-game series from RU (17-18-1, 7-8 BIG EAST), marking just the Scarlet Knights’ second conference series loss this season. The Irish survived the weekend, including Rutgers’ 20-hit attack on Sunday, to extend the nation’s longest winning streak to 22 games.
As they did the two previous games, the Scarlet Knights’ offensive struck immediately as RU scored three runs in the first inning. Rutgers followed a leadoff strikeout with five-straight hits, beginning with a pair of singles by Mike Bionde (Pompton Plains, NJ) and Todd Frazier (Toms River, NJ). Frank Meade (Linden, NJ) then doubled home both runners, before scoring himself on the second of back-to-back singles by Ryan Hill (Hillsdale, NJ) and Steve Hook (Langhorne, PA).
Notre Dame countered, however, plating four runs in the bottom-half of the opening frame, thanks to a pair of home runs by Craig Cooper and Matt Bransfield.
Rutgers was back at it again in the second inning though, starting with Jeff Grose’s (Iselin, NJ) double, which ended ND starter Tom Thornton’s day after 1.1 innings. Bionde then greeted new ND hurler Jesse Stewart with a double to the gap in right-center field on Stewart’s first offering to score Grose. Frazier followed with an RBI single to left field, plating Bionde and giving RU a 5-4 edge.
The Scarlet Knights lost both those runs in the bottom-half of the second, however, as Dan Dressman’s single to left field, combined with a pair of errors on the play, plated two ND runs.
Rutgers scored again in the third inning to tie it up at 6-6, thanks to Hook’s solo home run to right-center field. The home run marked Hook’s second blast of the series and fifth in the last eight games.
The high-scoring affair continued as the Irish pushed across three runs in the bottom-half of the inning to take a 9-6 advantage.
Following Rutgers’ first scoreless frame of the contest, Notre Dame opened up a 13-6 lead with four runs in the fourth inning.
After ND scored another run in the sixth inning to take a 14-6 advantage, Rutgers mounted a comeback, scoring six runs in the seventh to pull within a pair of scores. A hit batsman and a three-straight singles by Tim Querns (Cherry Hill, NJ), Vic Cegles (Phoenix, AZ) and Grose pushed across RU’s first two runs of the frame. Following a pitching change, Bionde was hit and Frazier drove home the third run of the inning with a single to center field. A fourth run came courtesy of a wild pitch, which resulted in ND’s second pitching change of the inning. An infield error scored another run, before Hook capped the scoring, driving home his third run of the game on a single to right field.
Following a scoreless eighth, Rutgers had the tying run at the plate with no outs in the ninth after Bionde recorded his fourth hit of the game. However, Notre Dame survived the scare, getting an infield groundout and a pair of strikeouts to end the game and escape with the 14-12 victory.
RU starter Sean Spicer (Pearl River, NY) suffered his first loss in four appearances, falling to 5-2 on the season. He gave up nine runs on nine hits in 2.1 innings. Joe Baione (Staten Island, NY) surrendered four runs on six hits with a strikeout in two innings of middle relief, while Steve Healing (Brick, NJ) worked the final 3.2 innings, allowing just one run on four hits with a pair of strikeouts.
Stewart replaced Thornton after just 1.1 innings to earn the victory for ND. He moves to 4-1, despite giving up two runs one eight hits with two strikeouts in 4.1 innings. The Irish used five pitchers in the game.
Rutgers, which entered the weekend ranked as one of the best fielding team’s in the nation, committed an uncharacteristic four errors on Sunday. None of those errors cost them any runs in the game, however.
Of Rutgers’ 20 hits in the game, Bionde, who reached base five times in six plate appearances, and Frazier led the Scarlet Knights with four hits apiece, while Hook and Querns contributed three each. Eight of the nine hitters had at least one hit for RU, while six Scarlet Knights registered multiple hits on the afternoon.
Rutgers will wrap up its nine-game road swing in South Orange, NJ, on Tuesday in a non-league game against Seton Hall at 3:30 p.m.
2006 Rutgers Baseball
Rutgers at Notre Dame
Apr 23, 2006 at Notre Dame, Ind. (Frank Eck Stadium)
Rutgers 12 (17-18-1,7-8 BIGEAST)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
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GROSE, Jeff cf........... 5 2 2 1 1 2 3 1 0
BIONDE, Mike 2b.......... 5 3 4 1 0 0 0 1 3
FRAZIER, Todd ss......... 6 2 4 2 0 0 1 4 0
MEADE, Frank c........... 6 1 1 2 0 3 3 0 0
HILL, Ryan lf............ 6 0 2 0 0 1 2 0 3
HOOK, Steve 1b........... 4 2 3 3 0 0 10 0 1
FELIZ, Luis rf........... 4 0 0 0 1 1 3 0 2
QUERNS, Tim 3b........... 5 1 3 0 0 1 2 2 2
CEGLES, Victor dh........ 5 1 1 1 0 2 0 0 0
SPICER, Sean p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0
BAIONE, Joe p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
HEALING, Steve p........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
Totals................... 46 12 20 10 2 10 24 13 11
Notre Dame 14 (32-8,14-1 BIGEAST)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
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Craig Cooper 1b.......... 5 3 4 5 1 0 11 0 0
Brett Lilley 3b.......... 4 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
D. Dressman lf........... 5 0 2 1 1 0 0 0 0
J. Barnes 2b............. 6 1 2 1 0 2 0 2 5
Sean Gaston c............ 5 1 3 0 0 0 10 0 2
M Bransfield dh.......... 4 2 2 3 0 0 0 0 2
Alex Nettey cf........... 3 1 0 0 0 1 2 0 1
Greg Lopez ss............ 5 3 3 0 0 0 3 2 1
Cody Rizzo rf............ 4 3 2 2 0 0 1 0 0
Tom Thornton p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Jess Stewart p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0
Mike Dury p............. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
J Williamson p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Kyle Weiland p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals................... 41 14 19 13 2 3 27 9 11
Score by Innings R H E
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Rutgers............. 321 000 600 - 12 20 4
Notre Dame.......... 423 401 00X - 14 19 1
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E - GROSE(2); FRAZIER(10); HILL, R.(3); QUERNS(5); Brett Lilley(5). DP -
IRISH 1. LOB - RUTGERS 11; IRISH 11. 2B - GROSE(7); BIONDE(3); MEADE(9);
Craig Cooper 2(11); Sean Gaston(6); M Bransfield(15); Cody Rizzo(7). HR -
HOOK(8); Craig Cooper(9); M Bransfield(5). HBP - BIONDE; HOOK; Brett Lilley;
Alex Nettey 2; Cody Rizzo. SH - Brett Lilley(8). SF - M Bransfield(3).
Rutgers IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
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SPICER, Sean........ 2.1 9 9 9 1 0 15 19
BAIONE, Joe......... 2.0 6 4 4 0 1 11 13
HEALING, Steve...... 3.2 4 1 1 1 2 15 17
Notre Dame IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
Tom Thornton........ 1.1 6 4 4 0 3 10 10
Jess Stewart........ 4.1 8 2 2 2 2 19 21
Mike Dury........... 0.2 3 4 4 0 1 5 6
J Williamson........ 0.0 1 2 0 0 0 1 2
Kyle Weiland........ 2.2 2 0 0 0 4 11 11
Win - Jess Stewart (4-1). Loss - SPICER (5-2). Save - Kyle Weiland (10).
WP - J Williamson(1). HBP - by SPICER (Alex Nettey); by SPICER (Cody Rizzo); by
BAIONE (Brett Lilley); by BAIONE (Alex Nettey); by Mike Dury (HOOK); by J
Williamson (BIONDE). BK - SPICER(2).
Umpires - HP: Jim Schaly 1B: Mike Conlin 3B: Tony Gisondi
Start: 12:05 pm Time: 3:12 Attendance: 3275
Game notes:
ID-416479
Game: 423ND
