BETHESDA, MD – Rutgers (25-22-1, 11-11) used three runs each in the fifth and seventh innings to earn a 9-5 victory over Georgetown (23-28, 9-13) in BIG EAST baseball action Friday evening at Shirley Povich Field..
Rutgers jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first as Jeff Grose (Iselin, NJ) extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a leadoff single, was sacrificed over and scored as Ryan Hill (Hillsdale, NJ) hit a ball off the right-field wall for a double.
Georgetown captured its first lead of the game, scoring a pair of runs in the second inning, aided by a solo home run by the Hoyas’ Brandon Davis.
A Hill leadoff double, followed by a Frank Meade (Linden, NJ) walk and a Steve Hook (Langhorne, PA) bunt single loaded the bases with no outs for Rutgers in the fourth. After a strikeout, Tim Querns (Cherry Hill, NJ) delivered a two-run single to the gap in right center, scoring Meade and Hook to put the Scarlet Knights up 3-2.
The Hoyas countered with a run in the bottom-half of the fourth to knot the game at 3-3.
Rutgers re-captured the lead with three runs on three hits in the fifth. Grose smacked a leadoff double down the left-field line, moved over to third on a Mike Bionde (Pompton Plains, NJ) single and scored on a Todd Frazier (Toms River, NJ) sacrifice fly. After a Hill walk, Meade drove both Bionde and Hill home with a laser down the left-field line for a triple.
Three errors crippled the Hoyas in the seventh as the Scarlet Knights took advantage of three fielding blunders, scoring three unearned runs to build a 9-3 advantage. Pinch hitter Nick Stavrakis (Warren, NJ), who has been sidelined since April 22 with an injury, added a seventh run for the Scarlet Knights with a two-out RBI double to the gap in left field, scoring Meade (walk) and ending Hoya starter Warren Sizemore’s day. A pair of singles by Querns and Luis Feliz (New Brunswick, NJ) brought home Stavrakis for RU’s second run of the frame and Querns later capitalized on the second and third Hoya throwing errors in the inning to come around and score.
Chris Lillis (Fair Haven, NJ) came in on relief of Rutgers starter Matt Pustay (Hamilton, NJ) to start the eighth. He let up two runs in a third of an inning before being replaced by Joe Baione (Staten Island, NJ). Baione walked his first two batters to load the bases, but a he got a comebacker to prevent the run from scoring for the second out and registered a big strikeout to get the Scarlet Knights out of the inning without allowing any further damage.
Baione then retired the Hoyas in order in the ninth to seal the victory – RU’s fourth straight.
Pustay (3-4) earned the victory, registering a career-high eight strikeouts in the process, while allowing three runs on five hits in seven innings of work. Baione worked the final 1.2 innings of scoreless relief to extend his streak to eight innings without giving up an earned run.
Sizemore (4-5) was saddled with the loss for Georgetown, giving up eight runs (six earned) on 10 hits, while striking out six batters.
Grose led the Scarlet Knights with three hits on the evening, while making an acrobatic, diving catch on the run in left-center field in the eighth inning.
Rutgers and Georgetown will continue their series in another 7:00 p.m. game tomorrow night with righty Sean Spicer (Pearl River, NY) on the mound for the Scarlet Knights against fellow righty Stephen Burns for the Hoyas.
2006 Rutgers Baseball
Rutgers at Georgetown
May 12, 2006 at Bethesda, MD (Shirley Povich Field)
Rutgers 9 (25-22-1,11-11)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
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GROSE, Jeff cf........... 5 2 3 0 0 0 5 0 1
BIONDE, Mike 2b.......... 3 1 1 0 0 0 3 0 0
FRAZIER, Todd ss......... 4 0 1 1 0 2 0 1 3
HILL, Ryan lf............ 4 2 2 1 1 0 2 0 0
MEADE, Frank c........... 4 2 1 2 1 1 9 1 1
HOOK, Steve 1b........... 5 0 1 0 0 0 7 0 0
SANGEMINO, Vincent dh.... 3 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1
STAVRAKIS, Nick ph...... 2 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
QUERNS, Tim 3b........... 3 1 2 2 0 0 1 2 0
FELIZ, Luis rf........... 3 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0
PUSTAY, Matt p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
LILLIS, Chris p......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
BAIONE, Joe p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Totals................... 36 9 13 8 2 6 27 7 7
Georgetown 5 (23-28,9-13)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
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Jones, T cf.............. 3 0 0 0 2 3 3 0 3
McLaughlin rf............ 5 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 1
Craft, R 1b.............. 5 1 1 0 0 0 8 0 1
Dargen, D 3b............. 3 2 0 0 2 0 0 1 0
Bouchard, M ss........... 4 0 1 0 0 1 1 6 0
Davis, B c............... 3 1 2 3 1 0 7 1 0
Harrigan, M dh........... 3 1 2 1 1 1 0 0 1
Maranges, M 2b........... 3 0 1 1 1 1 5 1 2
deGrijs, D lf............ 4 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0
Sizemore, W p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
McConnell, G p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
McKean, B p............. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Totals................... 33 5 7 5 7 9 27 10 8
Score by Innings R H E
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Rutgers............. 100 230 300 - 9 13 0
Georgetown.......... 020 100 020 - 5 7 3
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E - Dargen, D; Bouchard, M; McConnell, G. DP - Georgetown 1. LOB - Rutgers
7; Georgetown 8. 2B - GROSE; HILL, R. 2; STAVRAKIS; Davis, B; Harrigan, M.
3B - MEADE. HR - Davis, B. HBP - BIONDE; QUERNS. SH - BIONDE; FELIZ. SF -
FRAZIER. SB - Davis, B; Harrigan, M. CS - HOOK.
Rutgers IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
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PUSTAY, Matt........ 7.0 5 3 3 4 8 25 29
LILLIS, Chris....... 0.1 2 2 2 1 0 3 4
BAIONE, Joe......... 1.2 0 0 0 2 1 5 7
Georgetown IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
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Sizemore, W......... 6.2 10 8 6 2 6 27 34
McConnell, G........ 0.1 2 1 0 0 0 3 3
McKean, B........... 2.0 1 0 0 0 0 6 6
Win - PUSTAY (3-4). Loss - Sizemore, W (4-5). Save - None.
HBP - by Sizemore, W (QUERNS); by Sizemore, W (BIONDE).
Umpires - HP: David Speaks 1B: Dan Davies 3B: Craig Alden
Start: 7:00 Time: 2:53 Attendance: 143
Game: 512GTOWN
