ORLANDO, Fla. - Rutgers scored three runs in the first and one in the seventh and the Scarlet Knights' pitching staff was solid to give veteran head coach Fred Hill his 900th career victory with RU's 4-3 win over Central Florida Saturday night at Jay Bergman Field.
Holding on to a 4-3 lead late in the contest, freshman Kevin Lillis (Fair Haven. N.J.) worked 2.1 innings of no-hit, scoreless relief, with a 1-2-3 ninth to ignite a loud celebration from the Scarlet Knights' dugout and faithful in the stands as RU's 24-year mentor registered victory No. 900. Hill is now 900-566-8 in his 31st season of collegiate coaching (he coached his first seven seasons at Montclair State) and 752-460-6 in his 24th season at the helm of the Scarlet Knights.
The victory ended a five-game losing streak for Rutgers (7-9) and snapped a seven-game winning streak for UCF (13-10).
Frazier led off the game with a walk and came around to score RU's first run of the contest on back-to-back singles by Mike Bionde (Pompton Plains, N.J.) and Ryan Hill (Hillsdale, N.J.). Later in the first inning, Tim Querns (Cherry Hill, N.J.) worked a 0-2 count into a walk to load the bases and Frank Meade (Linden, N.J.) delivered a sacrifice fly to deep center field to score Bionde. With runners on the corners and two outs, the Scarlet Knights attempted a double steal. Querns was caught in a run down between first and second to end the inning, but not before Ryan Hill raced home to plate RU's third run of the inning.
With a 3-0 lead, starter Steve Healing (Brick, N.J.) went to work, allowing just one unearned run on two hits with four strikeouts in the first four innings.
An error at first base resulted in UCF's first score of the evening in the second and a pair of hits, sandwiched around a stolen base, gave the Golden Knights their second run of the game in the fifth to pull within 3-2. UCF threatened for more in the fifth frame with men on second and third and one out, but Healing induced a pair of fly outs to get out of the inning.
In the seventh, with runners on first and second and one out, pinch hitter Vic Cegles (Phoenix, Ariz.) wrapped a ball back up the middle, where the UCF shortstop made a diving stop. However, pinch runner Donny Callahan (Sparta, N.J.) raced around third and slid past the tag at home on the play to give the Scarlet Knights a 5-3 cushion.
The run proved to be important as Dwayne Bailey hit a one-out dribbler in front of the catcher in the bottom half of the inning and stretched out a base hit, before moving to second on a wild pitch and stealing third. He scored on the next play on a sacrifice fly to right field. A pair of walks put runners on first and second with two outs later in the inning and Lillis replaced Healing, who was sharp in his fifth start of the season. The senior hurler gave up just two earned runs (three total) on five hits with five strikeouts in on 6.2 innings to improve to 2-2 on the season. Lillis came in and punched out the first batter he faced to end the inning.
Lillis, in his third career appearance, continued his strong relief effort, retiring all seven batters he faced in his 2.1 innings for his first career save.
The Scarlet Knights and Golden Knights will conclude their series with a 1:00 p.m. game tomorrow. Freshman righty Casey Gaynor (Toms River, N.J.) will be on the mound for Rutgers against junior righty Jaager Good for the Golden Knights.
